


Nanaimo bars and Cherry Blossoms

by carmen_sandiego



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Test Kitchen AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 05:30:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 72,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20736977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carmen_sandiego/pseuds/carmen_sandiego
Summary: Tessa had thought the most interesting thing about this year was going to be re-creating candy and chocolate bars on screen. When Scott joins the team she realizes she was very, very wrong.(Or: It’s a Test Kitchen AU).





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [peacefulboo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/peacefulboo/gifts).

> So, months and months ago, peacefulboo had a birthday, and I promised when I was finished writing my long epic fic I would write her a belated birthday fic. She asked for something AU that wasn't like anything I'd written before, and since I knew we both liked BA Test Kitchen videos, this is the result. Surprising possibly only myself, it's turning out a bit longer than I thought ;)
> 
> I hope you enjoy it, boo! Thank you for being a lovely friend on top of being an awesome beta-reader. I'm glad to have gotten to know you!
> 
> And for everyone else, I hope this reads like a bit of comfort food. Enjoy!
> 
> Thank you to iwantthemtostay, thatsamoireh, and bucketofrice for being wonderful beta readers!

"Oh, Tessa can do it!" 

Tessa herself gives a brief sputter halfway through sipping her coffee. She's hardly had a chance to get herself seated at one of the work benches and let the caffeine start to work its magic, by the time the words are out of Marie-France's mouth. It's January, and the monthly creative planning meeting for the video channel, and the first one Tessa's ever attended in her new role as Food Editor back at _ J’ai Faim._

“Do what, now?” She bats a napkin at the small damp stain on her jeans leg. Kurt leans over with a couple more napkins from the bench next to hers and she smiles at him quickly. 

“The new online series, of course. You remember, _ ma chère_, we talked about this before you came back?”

_ Right, the candy-making show_. Tessa nods, thinking back through the different calls she’d had with Marie and Patrice before returning from her studies in France and then upon returning to Montreal. The video channel had definitely been part of it, as well as recipe testing and a series on classic bakes. And she would have sworn Marie-France was just saying something about re-creating Aeros and Fudgee-Os. 

She looks from Marie-France to Patrice and back again. “But...I thought my series was going to do the classics? You know, ways to make a pie crust, the best cake frostings, the perfect Nanaimo bar, that kind of stuff.” She glances over at Patrick and Kurt nodding nearby and that reassures her that she hasn’t been imagining things. “You want me to remake things people already buy in the stores?”

Both Marie-France and Patrice nod enthusiastically. “_Exactement,_” she says. “Only better. The gourmet version!”

“You can still do the classic baking series, too,” Patrice reassures her. “But we so often get requests for modern recipes. It will be an exciting creative contrast to have you do both. And no one else is doing this type of series right now, it will be something unique for us to try out.”

“Okay,” Tessa says, though she knows there’s still hesitation in her voice. She turns to Kurt and Patrick again, one main question on her mind. “But there’s no way people are going to want to mimic these at home, right? I mean...I don’t even know how _ I’m _ going to make a Crispy Crunch bar, let alone tell other people how to make them.”

“Maybe it’s not just about the result, though,” Kurt offers, looking like he’s thinking about it carefully. “Maybe it’s the process?”

“Yes,” Patrice agrees. “You’re one of the best at process and testing, Tessa. People will love watching you work.”

Tessa laughs at the idea. Anyone who could have seen her in her own kitchen mid-dissertation with puff pastry variations might disagree, but fine. She trusts her friends and mentors. “Okay,” she repeats, this time through a smile. “I guess I’m doing this.” 

A cheer of excitement goes up around the room, making Tessa laugh even more. Patrick turns to her to offer more words of reassurance, and around her the rest of the team meeting continues.

And so begins the most unique year of Tessa’s life.

*

“Hello, everyone,” Tessa cheerfully tells the camera. “I’m Tessa. We’re here in the _ JF _ test kitchen and today we’re making gourmet...Aero bars!” The camera pans out to reveal her standing in front of a kitchen bench with a full display of Aero bars fanned out in front of her. In the background the rest of the kitchen spans out behind her, where a row of stovetops line one side, windows the other, and several more kitchen benches between them stand ready for other cooking and baking work to happen. 

Once the magazine had known they would be embarking on this series they’d asked their readers online what kinds of treats or snacks they’d like to see created in the test kitchen — either current favourites or nostalgic treats readers remember from when they were younger. Aero chocolate bars had been one of the ones at the top of the list. Tessa thought they seemed like a good one to start with since, while posing a technical challenge, they at least isolated the cooking skills to chocolate work rather than a combination of cookies, sugar work, and so forth. So, Aeros it was. 

Tessa reaches for a bar near the front of the display. “These were one of my favourite chocolate bars growing up,” she tells the camera, opening the wrapping. “I love that they’re so simple, and I always thought they were so fun to eat with the bubbles.” She breaks off one of the ridges and holds it up to the camera for Alex to take a brief cross-section shot. A moment later she takes a bite, a modest smile curling her lips as she tastes the candy. “Yes, that’s just like I remember. The milk chocolate is so sweet and creamy, and the bubbles are still so nice. They almost melt on your tongue,” she says. “And then of course there’s the mint Aeros; they’re classics in their own way as well,” she adds, reaching for a package with green lettering. 

She opens up the mint package and takes another bite. “I love the mint so much too. It’s such a lovely sweet flavour. There are more varieties of Aeros than I realized, though: There’s dark chocolate, and an orange one, and it looks like there is a white chocolate one which I’ve never even seen before,” Tessa explains, looking over the candy fanned out in front of her and opening a few more wrappers. “Apparently these bars are also a favourite in the UK, but they’re definitely one of the most popular candies in Canada. I mean, how can you go wrong with Aeros, right?”

As she’s showing off the inside of the mint bar for the camera and talking about the differences in flavour and texture, Kaetlyn walks by and looks over curiously.

“Aeros! Oh I love these,” she announces excitedly. “Is this your first one for _ Gourmet Treats_?” she asks with interest. She glances at the camera and then back to Tessa.

Tessa welcomes her over. “Yep! Which ones are your faves? I always liked the milk chocolate.” Together they look over the ample display of candy.

“Definitely the mint ones,” Kaetlyn says. She breaks off some of Tessa’s already-opened mint bar and takes a bite. Her smile is even bigger now. “When I was a kid, I always used to get these at the store with my allowance! Oh wow, this takes me back.”

“I know, right?” Tessa agrees. “It’s been too long since I’ve had one of these. But I’m going to correct that, moving forward,” she tells the camera. “So, tell me what you think. What’s the big stuff that needs to be there when I make these?” she asks, turning to Kaetlyn again. 

Kaetlyn nods, like she’s thinking. “I mean, it’s gotta be all about the bubbles, right? Otherwise it’s not an Aero!”

“I know, I’ve got to work that out.” Truth be told she has some ideas already, but isn’t sure which one will be the winner. She’ll have to go through the process on camera and talk it through as she goes.

“I have no idea how you get the bubbles in there, Tess, I’m so excited to see how you figure that out.”

Tessa chuckles a little. “Me too, if I’m being honest.”

“Oh, and you have to have the little sections, right? To break them off in pieces,” Kaetlyn points out the little ridges across the chocolate.

Andrew and Patrick stop by her workstation next, equally interested to weigh in. 

“It’s got to have the bubbles, and it’s got to snap apart in the little pre-marked pieces,” Patrick says, echoing Kaetlyn’s comments. 

“Which flavour are you gonna do though, Tess?” Andrew reaches for a piece of the dark chocolate one that’s already open. “More than one, maybe?”

Tessa lets out a sigh. “I’m not sure,” she says.

“Milk chocolate all the way,” Patrick offers, nibbling on another piece of the milk chocolate bar Tessa had handed him. “It’s the classic, can’t mess with a classic.”

“Dark’s pretty good too, though,” Andrew comments, and Tessa finds herself nodding.

“Maybe the mint one, for a second flavour?” Tessa shakes her head a little. “But then maybe I shouldn’t be overly ambitious.”

Patrick grins at her and nudges her with his elbow. “No such thing.”

They carry on towards their own tasks and conversations in the test kitchen, filling in light background activity as though part of the supporting cast while Tessa films. And she returns to talking out her process to the viewers. As she’s speaking to the camera, Kurt returns to his station situated just behind her. She waves him over.

“Oh, _ Aeros_,” he says. “What a great one to start with, no?”

“I know, it’s sort of perfect. Everyone loves these.”

“A little bit of pressure, though, too, right?” Kurt adds, sending her a knowing, supportive look. 

“Of course there’s pressure! It’s because everyone loves these,” she repeats, laughing a little and glancing back at the camera. 

“And this is completely a chocolate situation,” he says. “I mean, it’s definitely all about getting that air in somehow—”

“Right,” she agrees.

“—but it’s sort of all about that chocolate, right? Gotta be a good milk chocolate, and it’s got to have that…” He snaps off another ridge of the bar. “...that snap.”

“I know,” Tessa lets out a sigh. “It’s going to need tempering to get it there,” she admits out loud. She knows she _ can _ temper chocolate, but it’s not something she’s gotten as practiced at compared to other aspects of pastry and candy work. 

Kurt nods with her. “Yep, sure is.”

“Okay,” Tessa says with a final nod of resolution. “I need to get some good milk chocolate, figure out how to get some air bubbles in there, and — let’s face it — I need to figure out the mould for some nice ridges.” She lets out a breath. “So let’s get to it.”

*

To Tessa’s surprise, making gourmet Aeros turns out to be not as hard as she thought — but she does end up needing more than one try to get it right. She does some research and discovers a few different methods suggested by home cooks online, and determines that there are two main potential processes to try. One involves dry ice, which she attempts first - never being one to pass up playing with dry ice, of course. The results aren’t terrible, but she’s less pleased with the bubble texture. She returns the next day to attempt the next one.

“Hello everyone, today’s the second day of our Aero challenge,” Tessa tells the camera. “Yesterday went not too badly, we did make the first attempt using the crushed dry ice and letting it evaporate as the chocolate cooled.” She gestures to the pan at one side that holds the first results, then picks up one of the pieces and points out the little holes left. “The air pockets have actually held up pretty well, they’re still good and visible here. But the only thing is they’re not as uniform in size and shape, not like the real Aeros.”

She sets down the piece from the first batch. “That means my job for today is to try a second method. I’ve done a little bit of research and discovered that there’s another way we can do this,” she says with a knowing look. “I’ve got one of these vacuum canisters that we use for making homemade whipped cream. They use nitrogen dioxide to charge up the canister and pump the air into the cream. I think we use these to achieve a similar effect with the chocolate.” 

Tessa sets down the canister and starts counting off tasks on her fingers. “So, I’ve got to get the chocolate tempered right, then do a test in a filled mould, and then...then if it works out we can try a second flavour.” She laughs a little for the camera. “But I’ll try to keep my expectations moderate! It’s only our second day after all.”

She spends the first part of the morning working on the chocolate, and manages a first test with the whipped cream canister. The test kitchen team even managed to track down a set of candy moulds which mimic the ridged Aero shape — not an exact match, but still pretty close. 

Kurt looks on from his station a little later on, as she tries to remove the first few bars from the mould. “How’s the chocolate doing?” he asks, in the middle of whisking something in a bowl. Tessa guesses it’s his pancake recipe that he’s working on for his video shooting later in the week. 

“Well, funny you should ask,” she answers, some exasperation tinting her voice. “I don’t think it wants to come out.” She gives the overturned mould a few more firm taps on the counter, but nothing releases. A sigh escapes her as she pauses, then she takes another breath before reaching for a knife. She manages to get the chocolates out of the mould, but only after a little bit of nudging, and even then there are some pieces left behind. “Oh, Kurt, this isn’t looking great, I have to say,” she comments for his benefit, then looks back towards the camera. “It’s clear I didn’t temper the chocolate properly, that much is obvious. If I had, it wouldn’t have needed this much effort to remove the bars. They should have cooled to a smooth finish that would separate easily from the mould.” As she talks, she points out the ragged edges left on the bars.

“Let’s still take a look inside, though,” Tessa says, her voice more resolute now. She makes a clean slice through the middle of one of the bars and turns the pieces so the cross-section is visible to the camera. “Oh! Okay, that’s not too bad, actually. There are a few bubbles in there! And some of them have collapsed - that’s to be expected, given that the chocolate wasn’t quite set. But it’s better than I thought it might be.” For the audience’s benefit, she holds out the piece of chocolate so the few little bubbles are visible. “I think I can also adjust the pressure on the canister a little bit, see if we can amp that up more to make sure the bubbles hold their shape.”

Kaetlyn comes by again, curious, followed by Andrew. They each give their comments, encouraging but also affirming her need to try again. She finds it oddly boosting to hear her own thought process validated out loud — the taste is good, just needs another try to get the texture right.

So, she tries it one more time. She returns to the chocolate again in the afternoon, focusing extra attention on the temperature readings. Then later at the end of the day, by the time the chocolate has had a chance to set, it’s Patrick waiting with her as she takes the moulds out of the refrigerator. He’s got an encouraging smile on his face. 

“Okay, ready?” she says for his benefit as well as the camera’s.

“You got this, Tess,” Patrick announces confidently. 

“Okay,” she repeats, and takes in another breath before turning over the mould and giving it a solid tap over the marble countertop. To her great pleasure, six of the ten bars pop out right away. She and Patrick exchange excited exclamations followed by huge grins. Tessa gives the pan another tap and the remaining four bars join the others. She exhales a sigh of relief. 

“Look at that, Tess! Those totally look right.” He leans in a little closer as she does, to examine the results. “Do we get to try one?”

“Yes! Yes, of course we do. Here, we’ll each have one and see how it snaps. Ready?” She takes one up in her hands at the same time he does, then simultaneously they each snap off one piece. “Ah!” she exclaims, a repeat of her excited reaction a moment ago. “It worked, look! Bubbles, so many bubbles.”

Patrick takes a bite. For a moment it’s clear he’s just letting himself taste it, but then he smiles again at Tessa and she can tell from his expression that she’s gotten it right. It’s the best seal of approval she could ask for. “It’s perfect,” he says. “It’s even better than the originals actually. The flavour is so much richer.”

Tessa nods. “It’s a little less sweet I think, but really creamy. That’s the good milk chocolate talking.” Then she takes a bite of her bar, too. The taste hits her first, and then she feels the bubbles starting to dissolve on her tongue, and she instantly relaxes. “It’s really good,” she tells Patrick.

“Right? You nailed this one, Tessa.” He holds up one hand to high-five her and she does, even with a bit of chocolate still on their fingers. That makes her laugh again.

She turns to the camera once more and holds up her bar, showing off the awesome results. 

“It turns out this has been a pretty good day after all,” she tells the audience. “For a pastry expert who is not at all an expert in chocolate, I’m really happy with this result!” 

A few others from the kitchen stop by and taste the results and offer their own praise, and it’s just like icing on the cake. She knows she still needs to come back tomorrow and do the mint variation, but having cracked the regular bar is enough to make her not worry too much about the rest. Just like she told the audience, today has been a really great day. 

*

_ -I feel like I could totally make this. But LBR I probably won’t- _

_ -I never understood why people like Aeros so much, it’s just chocolate and bubbles. Coffee crisps are way better- _

_ -Patrick is a cutie pie and I love his tight shirt LOL- _

_ -OMG I love it! Tessa is already my new fave test kitchen chef, when do we get the next one of these videos- _

_ -Anyone else watch this video twice in a row? I don’t know why but I needed to just see it all over again, I love Aeros and this is so satisfying- _

_ -Do Coffee Crisps next!- _

*

It's in her second month into the _ Gourmet Treats _ series when Tessa finally meets the famed Scott Moir. She’s been hearing for weeks about the new recruit to the _ J’ai Faim _ test kitchen team and has admittedly been a little bit skeptical that one person could be as amazing as they say he is. Apparently he’s from Ontario, just like Tessa, but has more recently been out in Vancouver, working in different roles within the culinary industry. He’s been tapped to join the growing crew in the test kitchen, and will also be joining the video series team for something called _ Backcountry Gourmet _, which Tessa wonders if it’s just a catch-all for everything that seems rustic or organic. She presumes she’ll find out more before too long, but has been busy enough with her own various projects that she hasn’t had as much time to keep up with other new developments.

One day in the beginning of February she’s just finishing up testing a new collection of iced sugar cookie recipes aimed at the Valentine’s Day crowd. Now that she has time to turn her attention back to the next installment of the _ Gourmet Treats _ series, she’s teeing up possible recipes for the next task. But more than that, she can see the comments starting to roll in now that the first video has been up for a couple of weeks, and she has a clear sense of what other requests are going to be high up on viewers’ lists. If she didn’t already know that Coffee Crisps would be a popular choice, she sure does, now. They’re right up there with Shreddies, Fudgee-Os, and all-dressed potato chips. Not to mention Cherry Blossoms. _ Seriously? Who even still eats those? _ she thinks to herself.

On this particular morning, she's just spent an hour on the computer looking at as many videos and web descriptions about Coffee Crisps as she can — not because she's been assigned that one yet, but because she can feel it coming at some point and it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. She's deep enough in her own thoughts about it that she rounds a corner coming into the test kitchen and nearly walks headlong into Scott and Patrick.

"Tess!” Patrick exclaims. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I wasn’t paying attention.” She manages to stop herself before stepping on either of them, and then laughs nervously. 

“I wanted to give the new guy at least a full day in the test kitchen before knocking him down."

"Hey, I only did that to you one time," she protests to Patrick. "And, in my defense, you were between me and a batch of caramel that was about to boil too far."

"Oh, I'd definitely knock someone down to save a batch of caramel," Scott affirms, with a look on his face like he's absolutely done it before. Or at least come close.

"Thank you, I'm glad I’m not alone. And I'm guessing you must be Scott?" She holds out her hand and he shakes it. 

"That's me," he answers. 

“Welcome to the team! I know Shae-Lynn can really use the help on the digital team, we’ve got so many things happening in the test kitchen now.” She releases her hand from his, and tucks a stray lock of hair behind her ear. “I feel like I know you already, everyone says such great things about you.”

"Likewise,” Scott grins. “I've already heard _ impressive _ things about you. I watched your Aero bar segment, that was pretty awesome.”

“Thank you,” she repeats, smiling widely. She’s not too modest to accept the praise, especially since the series is still so new, and she _ was _ pleased that she managed the first task pretty well. “I’m excited about continuing.”

“Tessa is our in-house pastry expert,” Patrick supplies. “But she’s going to do a lot more besides pastry with the next ones coming up.”

“Oh, I definitely need to hear more about that, then,” Scott responds, glancing to Patrick and then back over at Tessa. The way he says it is so genuinely enthusiastic but also in a way that feels sort of familiar, as though she’s met him before. Already she feels like she could get to know him very easily. 

“Tell you what, you guys go for it. I promised Shae-Lynn I’d meet her in five,” Patrick says. He pats Tessa on the arm and then turns to Scott again. “I’ll leave you in Tessa’s hands for the rest of the tour. We’re on for lunch, though?”

“Absolutely,” Scott nods. As Patrick’s form retreats off towards the elevators, Scott turns back to Tessa. “So you’re the pastry expert?”

She blushes a little, in spite of herself. But the truth is it’s not a false statement and she knows it. “I kind of am, actually. I attended culinary school in Paris and specialized in pastry.”

“That’s so cool,” he says, still looking at her even as they start walking towards the kitchen, where light activity is starting to happen now that the morning is getting going. “What type of pastry?”

“I love pretty much every kind of pastry,” she answers honestly. “Or baked desserts in general, really. But puff pastry especially. My dissertation topic was on the differential effects of temperature and humidity conditions on puff pastry lamination and bake time,” she explains. They reach the counters off to the left hand side near the windows and she sets down her coffee mug, ready to pull up a stool. She pauses when she realizes he’s still looking at her, a hard to read expression on his face. “What is it?” Tessa asks. She wonders if she’s starting to ramble too much. “Sorry, I get a little nerdy about this sometimes. If you let me I would talk for hours about this sort of thing, I forget not everyone loves pastry as much as I do,” she laughs a little nervously. 

Scott blinks, then reaches for a stool next to hers. Then he shakes his head quickly, like he’s realized all of a sudden he’s been quiet. “No, don’t worry, I...I don’t mind at all,” he says, the smile returning to his face. 

“It turned into a really great excuse to travel to different parts of France,” she says, continuing with her story. “I wanted to be able to produce good results under very different climate conditions, and even between northern and southern France there’s such different humidity and temperature norms. Plus, so many home kitchens there don’t have air conditioning, still.”

He takes a sip of his coffee and then nods some more, listening to her speak. “What was your goal result? Were you trying to get the definitive puff pastry recipe?” His voice sounds equal parts curious and excited, and it’s oddly validating.

She smiles, her blush returning a little. Then she nods. “Well, sort of, yes. I was. For home bakers, especially. I want pastry to feel more accessible for everyone, so many home bakers are nervous to approach it.”

“Wow,” he answers, impressed. “Have you published it? I’ve got to try it. I mean, I might need to work up to it with a couple of other bakes first, but trust me, you’ve got me hooked now.”

Tessa laughs. “You could! You really could. I’ll show you sometime,” she says, and then wonders if that was too forward. She’s only just met this guy and it’s his first day on the job. Maybe she should just stick to explaining more about the kitchen layout and what times of day are the best for hovering around to score something for lunch or an afternoon snack. But then she remembers his question, and then shakes her head. “I haven’t published yet, though. That’s something I’m thinking about. I’d like to do more than just a few recipes at once.”

“You’re going to write a book,” he guesses. He’s leaning forward, now, his elbow resting on the counter between them.

“I want to,” she answers. “I’m giving myself a bit of time to figure out the plan for it, though, I want to get it right.”

“You will,” he says, the same enthusiasm returning to his voice. 

She laughs again, softer this time and a little incredulous. “You only just met me, you can tell that already?”

“Of course I can, Tessa,” he says, like it’s not even worth doubting. “I’ve got a good feeling about it.”

“Thanks,” she says. His encouragement isn’t unwelcome, she admits. “I don’t know if recreating chocolate bars and salty snacks will help me with that or what, but I’ll get there.”

“Oh yeah, I still need to hear about that, too!” It’s like he’d forgotten all about it in the last couple of minutes. “What’s up next?”

“Well,” she says, exhaling a breath and leaning in against the counter with her mug, mirroring him. “We’ve had so many requests. Coffee Crisps for sure, but I started out with Aeros in the first video so maybe next we need to do something that isn’t a chocolate bar. I think next up we might do Jos Louis cakes, or maybe Crispy Crunch or Nibs. But then a lot of people asked for Shreddies, and my niece has personally requested Goldfish, so I have to take that under serious consideration,” she says with a wink. “Several people have even requested Cherry Blossoms.”

“Cherry Blossoms? Those layered candies like my grandma always liked? I didn’t know people even still made those.”

“Oh believe me, they do. They have a very strong niche fan base behind them, too.”

“Well if you get to doing maple cookies, you’ll have to call me,” he says. “Those were always one of my top favourites as a kid. Still are, really.”

“I will,” she answers, a soft smile on her face. “You can count on it.”

They chat a few minutes longer about different kinds of treats and what their favourites were when they were younger. Then Shae-Lynn comes down with Patrick, ready to take Scott on a proper welcome tour of the office upstairs, and Tessa waves him off.

When she returns to her workstation to gather her ingredients for a pie recipe, she’s almost forgotten everything else she was thinking about before. 

*

“Hello everyone, my name is Tessa, and today we’re in the test kitchen making gourmet...Jos Louis cakes!” She looks into the camera and smiles as it pans out to reveal a piled display of Jos Louis snack cakes, some still in boxes and others loose in single wrappers. 

Tessa reaches for one of the single cakes. “I have to confess it’s been quite a long time since I had one of these. But I definitely remember them from when I was little. They always seemed so decadent at the time,” she explains as she opens the package. “They look the same as I remember, too, almost like a hockey puck shape, but covered in chocolate. And on the inside…” she rests the cake on the cutting board to cut it evenly in half, revealing the creme centre. “They’ve got this white creme filling in the middle.” She holds out one half of the cake so Alex can get a good shot of the cross-section for the footage. 

“Let’s have a taste.” She takes a small bite and the first thing that hits her is how sugary it is. “Oh, the flavour is so sweet,” she says off the bat. “Almost overwhelmingly so,” she adds, taking another bite. “But then you do get the chocolate coming through from the glaze and the cake. And I’m pretty sure this isn’t a chocolate cake but a red velvet, actually, judging from the colour, you can see there’s a bit of a reddish hue to it.” She pulls off a piece of the cake to taste it separately from the filling, and then nods. “Yes,” she says decisively. “More of a red velvet for sure. It’s just a shame that it’s so dry, because once you get past that initial chocolate flavour there isn’t much to follow it besides a very dry texture and a lot of sugary-sweetness. The filling really is the saving grace here as far as moisture, and generally holding everything together.” 

As she starts talking more about the chocolate glaze and musing on the smooth consistency, Patrick walks by.

“Are you doing Jos Louis? Aw, these were always my favourite,” he says. Tessa hands him one and he unwraps it. “_Yeah _, that’s the stuff.”

Tessa laughs. She always loves Patrick’s enthusiasm. “What is it you like about these?”

“I mean, sort of all of it?” he smiles, and she laughs again. “It’s so great all together. The cake is all soft, and it’s crumbly but not _ too _ crumbly, and the creme in the middle makes it all sweet in the middle.” He sighs a little and takes another bite. “Mm, I love it,” he says simply.

“What are your thoughts on the cake?” she asks, glancing back at the one she’s been tasting. 

“What do you mean?” Patrick asks, then looks at hers again too. “Oh, you mean is it chocolate cake?” She nods, and then he shakes his head. “No, maybe it’s more of a red velvet? I guess I never really thought about it before, but yeah.”

They chat a little more and a few minutes later he leaves — with one of the unopened boxes under his arm — and shortly after that Scott comes by. She starts to wave him over but doesn’t need to, as he’s already heading towards her station. 

“Hey Tess, what have you got over here?” He’s all warm smiles. 

“It’s Jos Louis cakes this week,” she explains, and hands him half of one. “This is Scott, everybody, you’ll be seeing lots more of him on our videos, soon,” Tessa tells the camera.

Scott gives a mock salute. “It’s true, I’m new here and at your service,” he says. Tessa’s not sure if he’s talking to her or the audience, or both, but she’s delighted all the same.

She turns her attention back to the snack cakes at hand. “Patrick and I were just talking about the cake part. I’m going to go with red velvet, that much I know for sure.” She tastes her piece once again and then sets it down. Some of the glaze has melted a little and she licks her fingers quickly, one at a time. 

“Sounds right,” Scott says, before he’s even sampled the one he’s holding. But he takes a bite and then nods. “I always liked these,” he reflects. “As kids, if we got these in our lunch boxes it was the best day ever.” 

“Yes!” she agrees. “Same in my house. Our mom didn’t want us having too much sugar all the time. Ironic considering where I’ve ended up now,” she thinks out loud, looking directly into the camera for a moment. 

Scott grins, nudging her with his elbow. “Clearly that didn’t hold you back, T,” he tells her. He finishes off his piece of Jos Louis cake and then dusts his hands. 

She smiles again, catching herself looking at him. _ T, _she thinks. No one’s ever nicknamed her that before. “You could say that again.”

“I think you’re gonna nail this,” he tells her easily, looking over the display and reading one of the boxes. “I mean, it’s cake, right? And a bit of glaze? Bing, bang, boom.”

“Hah,” Tessa coughs out, half-laughing again. “I’ll take that confidence, thank you. But you know what, I think we can even make this a little better. Get the cake a little more moist, a little more vanilla flavour coming through in the filling…”

“Yeah, now you’re talking,” he answers, slowly nodding in agreement. “You got this, T,” he says, repeating the nickname again. “I can’t wait to try it out, whatever you come up with.”

“Deal,” she tells him. “I think we can arrange that.” She and Scott both end up smiling for the camera at the same time. He offers another charming grin and gives her arm a squeeze, and then he’s off again. 

*

Tessa and the production crew re-set her workstation and she spends that afternoon getting to work on the little cakes. “I’m starting off with a standard red velvet cake recipe, it’s one that I’ve used before and gotten good results with,” she explains for the audience’s benefit, while gathering her ingredients. She sets canisters of cocoa and flour on the counter and checks to make sure the stand mixer is plugged in and ready to go. 

“But, I’m going to make a couple of modifications right off the top. First, I’m going to up the cocoa powder a bit. Red velvet cake does already have some cocoa in it — actually it’s the reaction between the cocoa powder and the buttermilk that’s meant to give it that red colour to begin with,” she explains cheerfully as an aside, pausing in her preparations. “But I want to see if we can really amplify that chocolate flavour a little more, make it even richer than the original. Plus, adding more cocoa to the dry ingredients will have the benefit of making the finished cake a bit sturdier, maybe bring down the rise a little so we get a nice even, dense bake. These original snack cakes aren’t very rounded on top, so what we don’t want to end up with is a domed effect on the top of the cakes after they’ve baked,” she says, gesturing a little with her hands to describe what she means. 

“Then for the second modification,” Tessa continues, “I must say I’ve never been the biggest fan of how much red food dye goes into red velvet — it does give that lovely red hue to the cake, but it can also affect the taste of the final cake if you go too far. So I’m going to hold back some of the red food dye, see if we can still get a bit of that red tint without going too artificial.”

And then she gets to work. 

She gets the first batch of cakes mixed up and into the oven without much fuss, using an extra-large muffin pan to get the width right. When she turns them out onto the cooling racks, she gives a satisfied nod.

“Okay, these are looking pretty good so far for a first test,” Tessa reports, after a few minutes have passed and they’re not completely hot anymore. She dusts her hands before giving a couple of the cakes an exploratory pat on top. “They’re springing back a little, which is what we want. And they have a good colour, a little bit red but not too much.” She cuts one in half with a knife to show the interior. “Good rise, too, not too much of a dome, that’s what we wanted, too.” She cuts a piece off of one of the halves and then takes a bite, her eyebrows lifting a little as she chews and considers the taste. “Not bad,” she muses. “Not bad at all for a first effort. It’s definitely more moist than the originals, so that’s an improvement. And I like the flavour.”

Kurt’s working at his station behind her and she invites him to sample it as well. “It’s not bad,” he repeats. “More moist, more flavourful. It’s a better cake, for sure,” he says, his tone of voice making it seem like there’s some criticism coming.

“But…?” she asks. 

He smiles. “_But_...I’m curious how it’ll slice. You’ve still got to fill it, right?”

“Yes,” Tessa nods. “That’s next up.”

Kurt pulls off a piece and feels the texture between his fingers. “It’s just, I feel like the advantage the originals have is they’re dry enough that the creme filling sort of oozes a little into the cake. Otherwise it’s just like adding frosting on top of a cake — there’s layers but not that…” he pauses, gesturing a little and looking for the right words. “That sort of...smushiness, for lack of a better description.”

“Yeah,” Tessa breathes out. “I see what you mean.” She tastes her piece again, too. “It’s a better cake, but we don’t know how it will behave with the filling.”

“It’s definitely a better cake, no worries there,” Kurt adds.

“I know, I believe you. I agree, too.” It is indeed more flavourful, and more moist. But he has a point about the crumb texture and it makes her think a little more about what she could adjust.

“I’m just trying to think like an eight-year-old, you know?” He winks at her.

Tessa chuckles. “And that is an important perspective here. These little cakes do still seem to be big with the school lunch crowd.”

Kurt shrugs. “I know you’ll get it,” he says. 

“Thanks, Kurt,” Tessa answers, offering him an understanding smile before he heads back to his station. Somehow it’s already getting close to the end of the day, now, so she decides to let the cakes rest overnight and she’ll think about how to approach the filling.

The next day she returns with a cheerful game face on. “Alright, it’s the second day of our Jos Louis cakes, and it’s possible I’ll need to try another variation on the cake itself…Well, let’s be realistic I think I definitely will,” she laughs a little. “Kurt made a good point about the level of crumb that these little cakes need in order to really hold onto the filling. But first I want to do a filling test on these, and we’ll see what results we get, and then go from there.”

Tessa makes up a batch of swiss meringue buttercream and sets to work filing the first test batch of cakes. “So, there’s something else that I’ve been curious about with these little cakes, which is the method to use to get the filling inside,” she explains to the camera as she fills a piping bag with the buttercream. “We can see on the original that there’s actually a little bit of a seam on the edge.” She can see Alex and Maia nodding to each other behind the camera and Maia making some notes on her tablet, to edit in a close-up shot of the cake edge for the final video. “And that means that they’re probably sliced all the way across, horizontally, and then the filling is placed in afterwards. Also,” she adds, reaching for one of the store-bought cakes and slicing through the middle. “The filling actually doesn’t go all the way to the edge, it mostly fills the centre in a sort of disc shape. So I’m going just mimic that for this first test and see what happens.”

She spends the next couple of hours slicing and filling the first batch of six cakes just as she described, then covering them all with a simple ganache to see how well it accomplishes the glaze effect. Just as she’s lining the finished cakes all up on a rack to check how well they’ve set, she sees Kaitlyn approaching and immediately smiles to greet her. “Oh, Kaitlyn! Get over here, I haven’t seen you in forever,” she says, momentarily forgetting there’s a camera crew in front of her. 

“_Tessa _ ,” Kaitlyn exclaims, giving her a hug. “I heard you were doing this series now, oh, look how _ fun_,” she says, examining the cakes. “I love everything chocolate.”

Tessa laughs. “I know, I’m glad you’re back in time for this one.” She looks back at the camera. “Kaitlyn’s been off in New York for the last six months and we finally get her back in Montreal! This is great, so many new faces this week,” she says, remembering Scott’s appearance in the video yesterday. 

Kaitlyn gives her a curious glance but doesn’t press further. “What are these? Can we taste them yet?”

“These are the first test at Jos Louis cakes,” Tessa says proudly. “And yes! We can absolutely taste them, I need to see how well these worked out.” She transfers one of the cakes to the cutting board and cuts it into halves and then into quarters. They each take one of the quarters and then take a bite.

“Mmm,” Kaitlyn responds right away. “I love the frosting, so chocolately.” She pulls back a little and examines the filling. “It’s red velvet, right?”

Tessa nods, and considers her piece as well. “It is! With a few modifications. What do you think of the filling, though?” Now that she’s tasting all of the elements together she’s realizing how modest the filling is compared to the cake and the ganache. It’s almost lost.

“It’s nice,” Kaitlyn shrugs. “Is it supposed to be light? I’m not getting strong flavour from it, though, did you reduce the vanilla or anything?”

“No,” Tessa sighs. “It’s just your standard swiss buttercream,” she explains, her thoughts already turning to what she could change there.

“Ooh, there’s a little bit of slippage, too, am I wrong?” Kaitlyn points to her piece and how the two layers have slid apart a little bit.

“No, you’re not wrong about that,” she says, looking at hers as well. “I hate to say it but Kurt did predict this would happen,” she says, her expression shifting. But she shrugs and pops the rest of the cake in her mouth anyway, as Kaitlyn does the same.

“Mm, it’s good though. I like it. Mind you, I have no idea what Jos Louis cakes even _ are_,” Kaitlyn says, laughing a little, “but yours are definitely on the right track,” she winks. 

Tessa laughs again too, happy to have the encouragement from her friend. And it’s a good reminder that, having been raised in the States, Kaitlyn doesn’t always have the same reference points for snack foods like many of the others in the test kitchen do. “Thanks, Weavs. I’ll make some improvements on the next test, but this was a good start.”

“Call me when the next batch is done, I need to taste those too,” Kaitlyn says, eyes bright. 

Tessa nods and sends her off with another quick hug, and then carries on with her narration for the camera. 

The next morning Tessa returns ready to make a few changes. She’s not quite as confident as she was the previous morning, but she at least has a new plan. If she’s being honest, part of her is also starting to question the utility of doing this exercise — _ Do people even care that much about snack cakes these days? _ — but she takes a breath and reminds herself that this is just part of her job, now, and there will be more time later in the week to get back to her other recipes. 

“Hi everyone,” she greets the camera brightly. Alex and Maia both nod with enthusiastic thumbs up from the other side of it, and Shae-Lynn walks by just then and gives her an encouraging wave. “It’s day three of our Jos Louis project, and today we’re going to try another test. I’m pretty much going to change up everything that I did yesterday,” she reports with a chuckle. 

There’s a tray nearby with the results of the first test covered in cling wrap, and she picks up one half of one of the cakes. “This wasn’t the worst, overall, and I did learn a few things. The first is that each of these three elements really does have to work together — the cake, filling, and the chocolate glaze. So I need to make a few adjustments. The first thing I’m going to modify is the cake recipe. This one did turn out nice and even on the rise, like I wanted, and the chocolate flavour does come through more strongly. But it could use a little more crumb texture, I think, to mimic the originals. I don’t want to sacrifice too much moisture in the final bake,” Tessa says, levelling a decisive look at the camera. “But I agree that we can swing it back a little more that direction without sacrificing taste,” she explains.

“Then there’s the filling,” Tessa continues. “The buttercream tasted fine on its own, but in combination with the other elements, it just wasn’t sturdy enough,” she explains, gesturing to the cut piece of cake. “And what’s more than that, I can see this morning that it’s actually started to get absorbed into the cake layers, and that’s not what we want. We need good texture on the cake, but we also need to see the clear layers between the filling and the cakes. And finally,” she says on an exhaled breath. “The glaze. I really like this ganache glaze, it’s always served me well on cakes before, and it’s not too bad here. But it is quite rich. I think what I’m going to do is make it again and use half dark chocolate, half milk chocolate this time, and that will get us to a flavour profile that’s still tasty and chocolatey but not over the top,” she finishes with a nod. 

“So what you’re saying is...your first effort was too high quality?” Alex asks, and she can see his teasing grin even from behind the camera as he pipes up.

“It was not _ too _ high quality,” Tessa tells him, not so much defensive as...well, okay, she’s feeling a little defensive. But she also knows she has to meet the requirements of the brief, and if she goes too high-brow towards a chocolate ganache cake or a devil’s food, it won’t really be the same as the thing she’s trying to recreate. So she acquiesces. “But it wasn’t quite right compared to the original, that much is true,” she allows. 

True to her word, she re-makes the cake with a few adjustments, and then sets about making a new type of filling. “This time I’m going to try marshmallow filling instead of the buttercream,” Tessa tells the camera. “I think the filling in the original snack cakes is sturdier than the buttercream is, almost like a soft little puck on the inside of the two cake layers, and a marshmallow filling will achieve that same effect quite well,” she explains as she gathers her ingredients. “It’ll also be very sticky, so that should reduce that slippage effect we were getting on the other version.” She slides her hands through the air, one over top of the other, to gesture at what she means. 

As intended she spends the next little while mixing up up the marshmallow filling, getting it into a piping bag — which leads to some joking around about the sticky, spider-web quality of marshmallow when it gets onto your fingers before it’s set — and then slicing and filling up the cakes. After mixing up a new version of the glaze, this time with coconut oil to try to mimic the smooth, shallow, shiny glaze that come on the packaged cakes, she lets them sit in the fridge to chill for a little while. 

An hour later she brings the tray back over to her workstation and takes a deep breath, ready to take off the cling wrap and see the results. She opens her mouth to start speaking into the camera just as Scott walks by, and then joins her at the counter, curious. 

“What do you have there, T? You need tasters again?”

“Of course!” she replies, glancing from the camera to him and back again. “Always,” she emphasizes for good measure, pulling off the plastic wrap. “Let’s see the writing on the wall this time.”

He watches intrigued as she takes up one cake and then slices it in half, then into quarters. 

“Oooh, nice!” Scott reacts immediately. “That looks like the real deal almost. Well, except better, right?” he looks back at the camera for a second, as though asking the audience to confirm their agreement. 

Tessa can’t help laughing a little as she nudges one of the pieces towards him. “Here, you haven’t even tasted it yet! You should do that before making pronouncements like that,” she says.

They both take a bite at the same time. She lets the flavours hit her one at a time and considers the overall result as she chews and swallows, but looks at Scott to react first. “So?” she asks. “What’s the verdict?” Now that she knows these are a treat he remembers from childhood she hopes even more that she’s gotten it right, regardless of what the audience thinks.

“Oh, it’s good,” he says, half-thinking about what he’s tasting and half-examining the remaining piece in his hand. Tessa’s glad to see there’s no slippage between the layers, everything’s holding up well. “It’s like the originals except _ better_,” he tells Tessa, looking over at her with a boyish smile on his face. 

“Yeah? What’s better about it?” The truth is she likes this version better than the previous one, and she also agrees that it’s better than the original, but she wants to hear him say what he likes first. 

“Mm, it’s like...the chocolate is better, it’s got more flavour.” He examines the glaze and then pops the whole rest of the piece in mouth. “And the cake tastes like real cake, too,” he says, half-muffled before he swallows the bite. “I don’t know what you did but do more of it.”

She can’t help but agree. “I agree, I like the changes. We’ve got a richer red velvet cake, and a combination of milk and dark chocolate in the glaze.”

“We?” he asks, curious. Then he nudges her elbow with his. “This is all you, T, take the credit.”

Tessa smiles at his use of that nickname again. “Thanks, Scott, I did do pretty well I think.” She straightens her shoulders a little more. “I like it too.”

“You guys are so lucky,” he says, looking and pointing to the camera. Tessa thanks him again and sends him off with another piece of cake, and then does a couple more tasting sessions with Patrick, and then Katelyn, both of whom offer praise on different elements.

She’s knows already she’s going to do at least one more version in the morning — she can fine tune the glaze a little more, and she’s itching to up the cocoa powder again just a tiny bit more to see how it tastes — but she is indeed feeling better about it than she was this morning. And she knows that’s not entirely due to the cake.

*

_ -Jos Louis cakes? Man I never would have guessed JF was doing those next. I didn’t even know they still made those!- _

_ -Congratulations now all I can think about is red velvet cake GDI- _

_ -OK I need more Scott in these videos tout de suite, when is he coming back, I will take however much of him you can give us JF- _

_ -Stupid Kurt, I bet the cake wasn’t that bad to start out with, he’s being too picky- _

_ -WHERE ARE THE COFFEE CRISPS SERIOUSLY- _

_ -Mmm Kaitlyn is right anything chocolate is the best- _

_ -Anybody else counting nicknames? Scott gave her at least two in one video, any bets we get a third next time?- _

_ -Patrick I miss your tight shirts, please give us another one next time- _

*

“Hello everyone, I’m Tessa, and today in the _ J’ai Faim _ test kitchen we’re making gourmet...Goldfish crackers!” The camera pans out to show the stacked display of Goldfish crackers of all sizes — bags, boxes, even little mini snack-sized bags. 

Alex makes a few clicks from behind the computer, pausing to cut the frame and splice in a few shots of Tessa opening up a few different bags and tasting the flavours. It’s still so bizarre seeing herself on screen like this. Tessa watches from her spot next to Marie-France and Maia, curious to see more of the process behind all of the production. 

“Do you think I need to keep saying the introduction like that every time? Surely they know who I am, now,” she says. The Tessa on the screen continues in her description of a few different Goldfish flavours, before talking to Kaetlyn and then Patrick about what the important Goldfish elements are.

Marie-France nods decisively. “Yes, it’s a nice format, keeping the opening the same each time. And besides, eventually we will have so many of these, everyone won’t be watching them in the same order,” she reasons.

Tessa chuckles, half incredulous. She’s still very much taking these videos one at a time, it seems impossible to think that they’ll be their own entire volume of work one day. But every month she’s back here doing another one. “Right now I think I’m just glad they’re tuning in. I don’t know what they’ll think of this, though,” she says, gesturing to the footage on the screen. 

“What do you mean?” Marie-France asks, swivelling her head to look at Tessa. “Because they’re from America?” She waves her hand a little as though dismissing the very possibility. “We never said we were exclusive to Canadian food on this series,” she reasons. “And in any case they’re from Switzerland originally! And Goldfish crackers are household favourites everywhere, people will love this recipe.”

Tessa lifts her eyebrows and nods, feeling like that reasoning is hard to argue with. It’s true they’ve had requests for Goldfish crackers come in since the beginning, amongst all of the interest in sweet treats. And even though they’re not a Canadian snack, Tessa had wanted to go for it since they’ve always been a favourite of her little niece, Poppy. 

“I hope they will,” Tessa says, taking a sip from her coffee. “I’ve never had one of these stretch into a five day project before.” She thinks back to how exhausted she’d been by the end of last Friday, and yet also how satisfied she’d been knowing that she’d gotten to a result that was so close to the original product. She’d gone through more than a dozen different variations of cheesy crackers, trying pastry and yeasted dough variations until she’d finally settled on a kind of hybrid version that seemed to work. 

Truth be told she’s still not entirely sure she didn’t hallucinate the entire experience. Kaitlyn had taken her out for drinks on Friday night when it was all over, and then she’d spent the weekend thinking about absolutely anything else besides crackers. 

“Have you read the comments we’ve been getting?” Marie-France asks. “I think we have some dedicated fans already. A lot of viewers in your corner,” she says.

“I have seen them,” Tessa answers, clutching her mug. “It’s fascinating to me that some of them seem to be reading Kurt as a kind of villain in the story, though,” she says. Especially after the last one when Kurt had pressed her about the cake texture, it seemed a lot of folks had read that as being too critical. But she loves getting feedback from him in the test kitchen, it’s part of what she loves about baking and cooking in this environment. 

“Maybe,” Marie-France shrugs. “And even if so, why shouldn’t he have that role?” she says, almost flippant. “Everyone needs a person like that around, someone who will offer the criticism that helps in the end. Otherwise, what’s it all for, _ non_?”

“_Oui _,” Tessa agrees, prompting a laugh from Marie-France at her extremely modest attempts at speaking French.

“But the thing is you have a lot of heroes here with you, too,” Marie-France muses, watching the footage as Patrick steps away and Scott follows shortly after.

“I know, there’s a lot of support here. It’s funny, these videos always feel like such a team effort to me, it’s so strange that I’m the one getting the attention but everyone else contributes, too,” Tessa emphasizes. She thinks about how boosting Patrick always is, and how Kaetlyn is always happy to listen and reassure her, even offscreen when Tessa’s thinking through what to try next. 

And then there’s Scott...Scott, who after only a few weeks has already become a fixture in the kitchen. She likes it when he stops by when she’s working. During this last challenge the final two rounds had involved getting out the food dehydrator, which she’d never used before but had managed with Scott’s help. It had made all the difference in getting the results just right. 

Just now she realizes she’s gotten distracted, watching as the footage switches from the two of them talking to a scene a little while later when he tasted an early batch of the crackers and offered his thoughts. Mostly positive, of course, because that’s just how he is. She blinks, realizing the room has gotten quiet, and looks back over to find Marie-France wearing a curious, almost satisfied expression.

“What is it?” Tessa asks. “You don’t agree?”

“Oh of course I do _ ma chère_,” she offers. She nods to the screen. “Scott is testing well with the audience too, _ non_?” 

“Yes, he seems to be.” Tessa doesn’t mind agreeing out loud. “He’s been a good addition. He’ll be a good host, too, when does his series start up?”

“We just cut his first video,” Alex reports. “Should be up online later this week.”

“Oh good, I can’t wait to watch it.” Tessa regrets that she’d missed being around when he was filming, she’d been deep in recipe preparation. Now that Goldfish are done they’re planning to film O Henry bars next, back to back, to allow Tessa a larger block of filming time for her first _ Classic Bakes _ series all in one go — starting with cookies. They’d meant to start the _ Classic Bakes _ series sooner but she’d been out sick with a terrible cold for several days. Tessa had felt more frustrated about it than the others, as someone who tends to not get sick very often. But all the same, the production schedule had been adjusted. And it’s meant she’s not seen as much of Scott lately as she might have liked.

“He’s prepping today for his next episode filming tomorrow,” Alex adds, glancing briefly towards her and then back to the footage. The screen is showing Tessa working up the first batch of cheese cracker dough. 

“Oh, I should go find him then, he’s been so supportive of my series; I should do the same for him,” she reasons. She downs the rest of her coffee and collects her phone and notebook in her hands.

Marie-France smiles back with that same knowing gaze. “Yes, a very good idea. You two make a good team together.” She pauses, her expression becoming more excited. “We should have you collaborate on something! Yes, _ c’est parfait_, we will find something for sure,” she says, tapping out some notes onto her phone.

Tessa lets out one more laugh. “Sounds good, Marie, just tell me when.” She gives her a kiss on the cheek in parting and waves to Alex, and with that, she heads off in search of Scott. 

*

Sure enough, he’s there in the test kitchen at one of the stations in the back, nicely out of the way of anyone prepping a video. As she approaches she can see he’s concentrating on some notes, scribbling down a few edits with a pencil. 

At the other end of the kitchen she can see Kaitlyn assembling ingredients in prep bowls and fixing her apron, which means she’s getting ready to film her first video. It’s going to be macaroni and cheese, if Tessa remembers correctly from their conversation over wine a few nights ago — of course with some kind of modern classic take. She makes a note to stop by later and give her a boost. But she also sees Andrew hovering nearby, a charming smile on his face and two fresh coffees in his hand. Tessa can’t help smiling a little at that — Kaitlyn will be well taken care of, and happily at that.

“T?” Tessa turns her head and finds Scott’s there next to her now. “What’s up?” He definitely seems glad to see her, even if he didn’t expect to.

“Hi!” She puts out a hand to his shoulder, like some kind of new reflex, and then withdraws it again to tuck her hair behind her ear. “Alex said you were prepping your next recipe and I thought I’d come see how you were doing.” 

“Oh, well the more the merrier. Please,” he says, gesturing to the bench with one hand and letting his other rest at her back as she takes a few steps forward. 

She examines his _ mise-en-place_. There’s brown sugar and oatmeal, and several freshly washed apples resting in a colander. “Apple cobbler?” she asks brightly, taking a guess.

“You got it,” Scott answers with a wink. He returns to his place in front of the arranged ingredients, which are fanned out around a wooden cutting board. “I know it’s on the basic side,” he admits. “But in the editorial meeting Marie-France and Patrice were really encouraging me to go for the foundational stuff, so I thought, hey, apple crisp is something anyone should be able to start with,” he says with a shrug.

“Yeah,” Tessa agrees, a light sigh escaping her. “I’ve had similar conversations with them, too. I think they’re making a focused effort to change the image of the magazine, modernize a little,” she says. “I guess they’d started to get a bit of a reputation for being stodgy, a little too old-school-perfectionist type of cooking.” 

“Good to know,” he answers, his eyebrows lifting a little. “I’d wondered if it was something like that. When I told my family about this job they seemed kind of surprised. Like, just the idea that _ J’ai Faim _ is doing video now, that much was already a big deal.”

Tessa chuckles a little. “Maybe. But it’s given the rest of us a lot to do,” she gestures around to the rest of the test kitchen. The lights are up at the other end, now, and Kaitlyn is now talking to the camera. 

When she looks back at Scott she finds, almost unconsciously, her hands have started fidgeting for something to do. He seems to realize that as they talk, and he pulls the colander full of apples towards her and hands her a tea towel, while he starts to work measuring the dry ingredients. 

“What can you tell me about that?” Scott asks. “It sounds like a bunch of us are coming on all at the same time. When they interviewed me for the job they said it was part of a new content engagement strategy.”

“Are you worried about job stability?” Tessa nudges him and offers a smile. He gives her a look back that lets her know he realizes she’s joking. None of them have contract limits on their time here, but still. She can see why it feels a little strange. “I think we’re all going to find plenty of ways to keep busy,” she says. “There’s the videos, and the recipes for the web. And I heard Kaetlyn talking about a podcast at one point?” She shrugs.

“Yeah, being bored is not going to be a problem,” Scott says. He reaches for a peeler and one of the now-dry apples and sets to work on them as they chat. She spares a glance at his hands, noticing how purposeful he is at the task, but still making it seem light and easy. He has nice hands, she thinks. And nice arms, for that matter. “I’m just a couple of months behind you and it already feels like you’re a wise old expert,” Scott tells her, nudging her back. She blinks a little, paying attention again to his words. “What are you up to next? You know, now that the Goldfish saga is over and done with,” he winks. 

She laughs out loud at that. “It _ was _ a saga, my goodness. I hope my niece likes the box of crackers I sent her from the final batch — that’s the only reward I need for it to have been worth it,” she says. “Well, that and a nice recipe,” she allows. “And not having to get out the food dehydrator again if I can help it.”

He laughs in agreement, too. “Hey, for a self-professed pastry queen I thought you did great. And to be fair, it’s not like there’s a lot of dehydrating going on in classic desserts,” he says, winking again. 

“That’s very true,” she says, standing up a little straighter at that. Mostly the darned machine had made her feel confused and nervous, at first. But then Scott had put her so at ease with it and the results had paid it off. 

“Patrick said you’re about to do a batch of videos for _ Classic Bakes_,” Scott says. He notices then that she’s finished drying the apples, so he fishes out another peeler from the drawer, and hands it to her. She takes it and joins him in finishing cleaning the apples. 

Tessa tells him about how she’ll be making five classic recipes, including chocolate chip cookies, lemon bars, and peanut butter cookies. “The goal is to teach people the important elements of cookie baking, while also establishing some foundational in-house recipes that web readers will return to over and over again,” she explains. “But mostly it’s a chance to bake some of my favourite things.”

“Not just _ your _ favourites, believe me,” Scott tells her. “I hope I’m around the week you’re doing lemon bars, believe me there’s days I would kill for one of those.”

She nods with satisfaction. “Me too. And the bakeries don’t always do them right, either, so often they’re...too sweet—”

“Too sweet—-” he says at the same time as she finishes her sentence. When he looks at her his smile is almost bashful, and she is entirely, completely charmed.

A smile curls over Tessa’s lips again too, and for a second she’s not sure what to say. But she does know she likes standing next to him like this, talking and sharing stories. Then something occurs to her. “Hey, you’re doing that again,” she says, turning to face him properly.

“Doing what?” Scott’s smile fades a little. He glances at his hands and around the workstation, like he’s wondering if he had somehow managed to peel the apples the wrong way. 

She lets out a gentle laugh. “You’re getting me to talk about _ me _ ,” she tells him, and taps his shoulder briefly. “But I want to know more about _ you _, too.”

He smiles, looking a little relieved but also encouraged. Briefly she wonders if he’s actually blushing, but then changes her mind. “Guilty as charged,” he says. “But in my defense, you’re a pretty cool person to get to know.” He reaches for a mixing bowl and a couple of paring knives, then passes one of the knives to her. 

“So what brought you here to Montreal?” Tessa asks. She takes the knife and watches as he cuts one of the apples into quarters and then into smaller pieces. She takes one of the clean apples and starts doing the same, aiming for the same size pieces as his. 

“Oh, that’s easy,” Scott says, warmth in his voice. He scoops the cut apple pieces into the bowl and takes up another one. “Getting to work here with everyone, getting to learn from Marie-France and Patrice…” He shrugs as though it’s an obvious answer. “It’s a complete win.” His eyes crinkle when he smiles, she notices then. 

“It really is, isn’t it?” she agrees. “They’re the best. When I interned with them a few years ago it was when they were really on the cusp of modernizing things here, but you could already tell it was going to be amazing. And then before I went off to study in France they promised me if I was ever interested in a position, they would find something.”

“They’re the best,” he says. “I haven’t known them as long as you have but I can already tell how smart and generous they are.”

“You were in Vancouver before this, right?” she asks. 

“Yep,” he nods, his smile returning. “That’s where I know Patrick from. We trained in the same culinary program and then ended up working in the same kitchens after that.”

“Patrick made it sound like you’d had a bunch of different jobs out there,” Tessa offers curiously. She scoops her chopped apple into the bowl and reaches for another, too. 

“Yeah, we sort of both did,” he laughs. “It’s a great food scene out there, I just wanted to keep trying new things. When he left to come out here I decided to strike out on my own for a bit. I even ran a cafe on Vancouver Island for a little while, it was pretty fun.”

“Really? I didn’t know that,” Tessa says. It’s a wonderful image. She’ll bet he’d be good at it, too, would probably have built a loyal following in about a week just based on personality alone. She wonders what the name was, guessing that he wouldn’t be the type to go for a cute pun or play on words. “That sounds like it would be a pretty hard setup to leave, though.”

“It was,” Scott says, letting out a breath. He tosses his chopped apple into the bowl and pauses, letting his hands rest on the counter. “I did coffees, and lunches, and takeaway sandwiches. No pastry in house,” he allows, glancing at her almost apologetically, “But I ordered those in from another local place and that let me focus my efforts on the savoury options. It was good business, too, I could have kept it going no problem.”

“But…?” she wonders. 

“But…” he continues. “I guess I wanted a different kind of challenge. More people to connect with, more chances to do a bit of teaching, that kind of thing. _ Plus _ getting to make good food,” he winks.

“I can see that,” she says. From the way he talks she can see how it all makes total sense, why the job here would be more his speed. Here they change the script almost every week, and their videos are reaching millions of viewers already. And no matter what else is happening they still get to cook new recipes and try out ideas — Marie-France and Patrice always make sure of that. Still, moving here from out West must have meant leaving quite a lot behind, especially if Scott had managed to build a successful small business in such a short period of time — and in what was probably an idyllic location, at that. 

“So,” Scott continues, reaching for another apple. “A few months ago I took the interview out here with Patrick’s help, then I sold _ Moir’s Cafe _ to my brother Charlie, and the rest is history, as they say.”

Tessa’s just leaning against the counter now, having paused her chopping as she listens to him. “Just you? Anyone else at home come along?” The question leaves her lips before she has a moment to second guess asking it.

“Not for a little while,” he says, smiling a little but more wistfully. “There was someone, but that ended before _ Moir’s Cafe _ did,” he admits. There’s a silent pause again before he turns to look at her, appearing both curious and sympathetic. “What about you? Anyone come back with you from France?” 

Tessa shakes her head slowly, knowing that her expression is mirroring his from a moment ago. “No, no one,” she says. She’d had a good few months in Paris with James before it had become clear he wasn’t interested in accompanying her on her research trips around the country. She’d been flying solo ever since. 

“Ah well,” Scott responds, scooping up his finished apple and hers too. “I guess that’s just how it goes sometimes right? You’ll figure it out.” He reaches for a lemon next and slices it in half before giving it a squeeze over the bowl. As she watches him she’s sure his expression is more relaxed now, even pleased. 

She nods, smiling more broadly. “I will. We _ both _ will,” she emphasizes.

“We _ completely _ will,” he agrees, letting out a breath. “So, Virtch, you want to school me on the crumble topping or are you going to watch me flail around a bit?”

Tessa laughs. And _ then _ she starts schooling him on the crumble topping. 

*

She likes him. And if she’s being honest with herself, she’s liked Scott since the first moment she met him.

But more than that, she’s realized just how much she likes being around him. The hard days in the test kitchen are made better when he’s around, with his energy and enthusiasm. Then, in the moments when he’s the one who’s struggling to figure something out, she likes sitting with him at his station and talking out the recipe with him. And when she’s deep in the middle of filming for one of her videos, she’s noticed that Scott always stops by, even if it’s late in the day and almost everyone else has gone home already. He doesn’t seem to care whether he ends up on camera or not, only that he gets to see how she’s doing and what she’s working on. Problems feel easier to solve when he’s there, she can’t fully explain why.

Tessa’s ducked into his videos every so often, too — just like she would with anyone else on the team, she tells herself. His videos have a different kind of energy than hers do. It’s the way he manages to project so much excitement and heart into everything he does, all while still being so thoughtful and deliberate about his work. She always brings some of that same energy back to her own recipes after she’s been around him. 

One day in April as she’s finally coming to the end of her filming for the classic cookies series, she’s going over her notes at her desk while the camera crew sets up. She looks up from her marked up recipe prep to find him standing there with a warm smile on his face and what looks like a gift in his hands. 

“Hi!” Tessa stands and greets him with a quick hug — she can’t remember when they started being on hugging terms with each other but it’s become a thing, now. “It’s good to see you, I’ve been so snowed under the last few days I can’t remember anything except peanut butter cookies,” she says. 

“But the finale is lemon bars, right?” His memory is good, she thinks. “Because don’t get me wrong, I always want to hang out with you T, but also the promise of lemon bars…” He closes his eyes and lets out a sigh. “That’ll win every time.”

Tessa laughs, and his false calm breaks out into a grin, too. Then she remembers something. “I heard you’re about to head out on the road?” she asks. She knows she’s not entirely hiding the disappointment in her voice. “Patrick said you’re going up north to do some filming for a little while.”

“It’s just a few hours outside of town,” Scott reports, as though it’s not that big a deal. “It’s not like we’re trekking across James Bay or anything like that. But yeah, we’ll make camp, shoot some campfire recipes, maybe even do a little foraging depending on what’s not under a snowbank anymore,” he explains.

“That sounds fun. I’ll miss you,” she doesn’t mind admitting. “But I bet the footage will be amazing.” 

“That’s what Patrick tells me,” he says. “I’ve never done a location shoot before. I think I’ll just pretend I’m camping with my brothers and act like I’m explaining some cooking to them, that’s not too far off from the normal, really.”

She chuckles again, then pauses, noticing again that he’s holding onto something. “Did you really come just to watch me make lemon bars three times in front of the camera?” 

“Never could get one past you,” he winks. He holds the paper-wrapped gift out to her, looking pleased. “Here, I made it myself.”

“Oh, Scott, you shouldn’t have,” she answers, even as she sits back down to unwrap it. 

“Don’t worry about, it was my pleasure. I finally got my neighbour to lend me some time in her woodshop the last couple of weeks and it’s been pretty great to get back to some handcraft time. I decided to make a few things for my friends,” he explains. His tone of voice is friendly and casual, almost like he’s trying a little too hard to be chill about it. 

Tessa finishes unwrapping it and immediately forgets what else she was about to say. She discovers it’s a beautiful wooden cutting board. It’s a dark wood, with an inlaid pattern made from slightly lighter, reddish wood, running down one side. “You made this?” she asks, astonished. She looks up at him and then back at the gift, running her hand across the smooth wood. It’s so gorgeous, and she tells him so. It looks as good as anything at one of the artisan markets in town, if not better. “I don’t know what to say,” she says a little dumbly. “Thank you.” She stands up and wraps her arm around him again, but more tightly and longer than she did before. For a moment she can almost feel his heart beating next to hers. Maybe it should feel strange but it’s oddly steadying. 

When they separate his cheeks look a little red. “You’re very welcome. I...I’m glad you like it. The walnut colour reminded me of you,” he says simply. 

“I can’t wait to use it. It’s coming home with me, though, this is too special to use on candy bar tests,” she says, laughing a little.

“You can use it however you want,” Scott reassures her. “And if falls apart or gets cracked, I’ll fix it. Or make a new one,” he offers.

“Oh, I’d never let that happen,” she insists. 

Just then Maia calls to her, ready to start the video. “Tess! We’re ready for lighting tests now,” she says. She waves at her to join the crew.

Scott looks back at Tessa. “Go,” he says. “I’ll be around in a bit.”

“I look forward to it,” she answers. She leaves the board on her desk, almost a little wistfully. And it doesn’t escape her notice the way Scott doesn’t rush to leave just yet. It’s not until another fifteen minutes have passed and she’s started on her introduction that she notices his empty place from the corner of her eye. 

*

_ -O Henry bars, yessss, I never expected those but now I want to make them- _

_ -Only one Scott sighting in this one, are we not getting the Virtch love-fest this time? Come back Scott we miss you!- _

_ -WTF, Goldfish crackers and then O Henrys? I thought this was supposed to be a Canadian food channel- _

_ -Hah, no cake criticisms from Kurt this time. You can do anything, T! Can we have Crispy Crunch next?- _

_ -Come on seriously, BRING ON THE COFFEE CRISP. WHERE IS IT I WILL BRIBE WHOEVER I NEED TO- _

_ -American snacks now? Lame. I expected better from the JF channel- _

*

She’s not sure what’s bothering her most — whether it’s the influx of viewer comments or her frustration with wishing she’d done better in the last few _ Gourmet Treats _ tasks. Or the fact that Scott’s been away on location shoots for his _ Backcountry Cook _ series for about the last two weeks, and she’s finally letting herself admit that she misses his company. Or the fact that she spent almost a month straight shooting the cookie episodes for _ Perfect Bakes _ and only the first two have aired so far, leaving lots of room for people to linger on the comments section to complain on her other _ Treats _ videos.

Either way, by the time Tessa gets to Thursday, she’s feeling about as low as she’s been in a long while. Not to mention she feels physically tired, even a bit stiff and achy, probably from so much time leaning over the cooking workstations week in and week out. It takes her back to the last few months of her dissertation, trying to write her final two chapters while still trying to perfect her puff pastry tests. But she’d come through that time with flying colours by the end, and she reminds herself the same can happen now. She just has to keep going through it and keep letting the process speak for itself. And rationally, she can see that the video clicks are still coming through. People are tuning in, it’s just perhaps the crankiest voices that are speaking the loudest, she keeps trying to remind herself.

But there’s nothing wrong with seeking a few simple comforts, she decides. At the end of the day she packs up the scant leftovers from the Nibs licorice challenge which just wrapped up, and lets herself take a moment to just pause and look around the empty kitchen. She remembers Kaitlyn is offsite that day for restaurant research interviews, and Kurt and the others must have packed up early. 

She thinks about how long it’s been since she’s baked something just for fun, and before she knows it she’s assembled the ingredients for Nanaimo bars and gets to work at her station. It’s a recipe she knows from memory, and it doesn’t take long for her to get the chocolate-coconut crust done. The sweet filling comes together quickly too and it’s just as she’s setting the chocolate to melt in a double boiler that she sees Scott come into the kitchen.

“Hey, I heard a rumour I wasn’t the only one here,” he says, coming over to stand near her. He leans back against one of the work benches and watches her. It looks like he’s holding a couple of glasses in his hands.

“Hey, yourself,” Tessa answers with a wide grin. She then looks back at the chocolate, conscious of the need to keep stirring. But she’s glad to see him after so long, and if she didn’t have a double-boiler of chocolate in front of her she’d have thrown her arms around him by now. “I didn’t know you were here already, did you just get back?”

“A couple of hours ago,” Scott nods, making a note of her little chocolate setup and the fact that she’s the only one here. “You’re having a late night,” he observes. “What’s this for, I thought you just wrapped? That’s what Andrew said, anyway, so I thought I’d come find you.”

“We are wrapped,” Tessa confirms. “But I...I just haven’t been feeling my best about these episodes lately, and I guess I just didn’t want to leave the kitchen without making something that I liked,” she tells him. Even as she says it she realize just how maudlin it sounds, and mentally she tells herself to buck up.

“Ah, I’m sorry, T. I’ve had days like that, too.” His words are gentle, like he really does understand. Now that he’s here next to her she’s even more glad to hear his voice. She just wants to keep listening to him talk. “What are you working on?” he asks, sidling up next to her as he casts a glance around the rest of the empty kitchen.

“Nanaimo bars. The crust and everything is already setting in the fridge, this is just the chocolate to finish,” she explains.

“Oh, Tess, Nanaimo bars are the best. I mean, not quite lemon-bars-best, but pretty close.”

“Yeah?” She turns to look at him again, her smile even wider this time. “I love that you love these. They’re one of my favourites, too.” 

“My aunt always makes them around my birthday. I’ve tried using her recipe before but somehow it just never works out the same as when she makes them.”

“I hear you on that,” she says, giving the chocolate one final stir. She turns off the burner and sets aside the pot on one of the other cool ones. “My recipe is one I started with from home but I had to keep tweaking it until I got it right. Now I’ve got it memorized.”

“Really?” he repeats, an answering grin on his face now. “That’s impressive. No wonder you’re so good at all this.”

“Good at what?” she asks. “Making cherry-flavoured licorice twelve different times until it tastes a little bit better than the ninety-nine cent version in the store?” She walks over to the fridge and lets out a sigh as she pulls it open and reaches for the square pan. “Or, no, it’s annoying my budding audience by making American treats when I should have known better.”

“_Hey_. That’s not fair, T. For real, everyone knows online audiences are a tough crowd. You’ll get the groove soon enough. I bet you already have.”

“Maybe,” she allows, knowing that he’s right. And she can hear the genuine insistence in his voice. She sighs again, but this time it’s more of a release than an expression of frustration. She grabs the spatula and starts pouring out the melted chocolate on top of the creme filling, then smooths it out flat. Scott stands next to her, silently watching and nodding encouragingly. Tessa knows he’s not here to criticize her work, but she also knows if he thought he had something to add, he would do it — and he hasn’t had anything to add. That too is actually enough to boost her more. 

Satisfied with the chocolate layer, she brings the pan back over to the fridge to set, licking clean a couple of her fingers as she walks back. _ Good _, she thinks, registering the taste. Now that she’s finished her task she finally gets a decent look at Scott and notices, properly, the glasses in his hand. “Are you having two drinks right now?” she asks, curious.

“Oh, no,” he says, looking down at the glasses he’s holding. They’re two tumblers with ice and what looks like whiskey. “I brought one for you and one for me. Andrew’s testing ‘old fashioned’ variations for his next cocktail video and I thought you might like one,” he explains. “This one’s maple with some kind of bitters,” he says, indicating the drink in his left hand. “And I think this one has orange marmalade, for some reason.” 

She reaches for the second one. The first sip tastes good — a little bit sweet, a little bit smoky. “Mmm. Good,” she says. He’s smiling again when she looks at him. “What?”

“Nothing, just...that’s what you always say when you taste something you’re happy with. Same tone of voice and everything,” he explains. “So that must really mean it’s good.”

“Oh, well...it is,” she answers, and takes another sip. “I wouldn’t have made it for myself, but I’d order it in a bar, I think. Andrew did a good job.” She leans against the counter next to where he’s standing, a little closer to him now. “How’s yours?”

Scott looks at his glass almost like he’s forgotten he’s holding it, then takes a sip. He nods, licking his lips a little. “I like it too. Andrew said it might not make the final cut. I don’t know if the maple flavour is too obvious for a Canadian-themed recipe, but I like it.”

“Yeah,” Tessa nods. “Sometimes it’s hard to tell that kind of thing.”

For a moment they each sip their drinks in companionable silence, just enjoying a moment to relax in the quiet kitchen. 

“You sound like you’ve thought a lot about that,” Scott says first. When she looks at him quizzically he explains more. “About obvious recipe choices.”

“Yeah,” she repeats, and releases an exhaled breath. “You could say that. For some reason I just don’t want to do the ones people are expecting all the time, there are so many choices,” she shrugs. “I think that’s why I’ve been avoiding Coffee Crisp so far. And maybe I should have just done that one sooner, it would have made some of the audience a lot happier.”

He nudges her with his elbow, then leans even closer next to her so they’re shoulder to shoulder. “Any other recipe ideas in particular? You can tell me anything, I swear,” he tells her conspiringly.

“Well, we are getting even more requests coming in now that we’ve aired a few episodes,” Tessa says, thinking out loud. “There’s starting to be a pretty long list. We could practically do a show every week for the rest of the year.” His eyes light up for a second and she reaches for him. “We _ won’t _,” she insists, squeezing his arm. “One a month or so is about right, for me to still also get some sleep at night.”

“There’s gotta be maple cookies on that list somewhere,” Scott insists. “You know, those ones shaped like little maple leaves? With the creme filling?” He gets a wistful look in his eye. “I haven’t had those in ages. My grandma and grandpa always had them around, I remember liking them.”

Tessa smiles at him, a fondness coming over her at the expression on his face. “That’s been a popular choice in the requests so far,” she admits.

“Aw, I knew it! What do you say, T? A little maple sugar will bring you out of the slump. And nobody can say you aren’t doing Canadian stuff if you pull those out of the bag next.” 

“That’s probably true,” she thinks. Then her brow furrows as she thinks a little more. “Is that too expected, though? I feel like maple cookies is too obvious.”

“Nah,” Scott answers. “You’re looking at the guy who made tourtière and dutch oven apple cobbler for his first two ‘backcountry’ recipes, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t get more obvious than that,” he says.

Tessa laughs. He’s absolutely right, of course. “Unless you decided to swing the other way, full modern, and do a recipe that uses canning jars for literally anything besides canning,” she adds with a chuckle. She takes another sip from her drink, and then notices a conspicuous lack of response from Scott. Sure enough, he’s wearing a sheepish expression and looking like he’s deciding what to say next. “Wait, don’t tell me,” she starts.

He lets out a sigh. “The episode after next one was gonna be mason jar desserts,” he says, and Tessa can’t hold back another laugh, then.

“Oh, I’m sorry Scott, I shouldn’t laugh,” she tells him, putting out one hand on his arm. “Especially after getting put through the wringer in my comments section.”

“Nah, it’s all good,” he says, taking another sip. “I’ll start their expectations low and then, _ bam_, hit ‘em with the good stuff. They’ll never see it coming.”

“I like the sound of that. What are you thinking of next?”

“Well I’m not sure exactly. But we definitely are planning the next round of location shoots, especially now that the weather’s about to get a lot better,” he tells Tessa. Then he looks back at her, a delighted expression on his face. “You should come! Oh, T, you have to come too,” he says, gripping her shoulder all of a sudden. “Yeah, we’ll see if we can get the same camp again and everything. Tess, it’s proper little cabins — not cottages, mind you, I’m talking real rustic ones like from ages back.”

“Yeah? What kind of gourmet treats am I going to make in the woods,” she says, half-joking. She has to confess she likes the sound of spending a few days with him in the countryside. 

“Oh, well, maybe it’s a different collaboration, you know? You can do some of your pastry stuff, show people a rustic country tart or something. I’ll do a roast, we’ll call it a crossover series, people will love it.”

Tessa finds herself smiling back a little stupidly. It’s not the worst idea, really. It’s exactly the kind of thing Marie-France has been brainstorming about for a couple of months, now. And more time like that with Scott...well it could be fun. “Yeah, I like that idea,” she nods. “I think we should do it.”

He nods back. “It’s a deal, T,” he says, his voice a little gentler. 

His shoulder is warm next to hers, and without anyone else around or any of the ovens or stoves turned on, the kitchen is almost blanketed in silence. She almost forgets her fatigue entirely, in that moment, standing so close to him. When his smile softens she can feel the exhaled breath on her cheek. Suddenly she finds her gaze flickering from his eyes to his mouth, then down again to his hands, clasped around his tumbler. She looks over at her own hands, seeing how little of her drink is left.

When she glances back at Scott his face has gone nearly expressionless, almost like he’s taking the same visual inventory of her that she was just doing of him. His cheeks are a little bit pink. 

She licks her lips a little, her mouth opening to say something but no words come out yet. Instead he speaks first.

“Drink?” he asks, a little hoarsely. He swallows, blinking. “I mean, do you want another drink? Your glass is almost empty, I could go get a refill from Andrew.”

“Oh,” Tessa says, looking back at her glass. “Maybe, I mean, it would probably go great with the…” Just then she gasps a little, remembering. “The Nanaimo bars! Oh, they’ll be set by now, for sure.” Hastily she pushes her glass at him and he takes it back in his other hand.

“We couldn’t forget those,” he says, something like nervous laughter escaping him, like he’d wanted to say something else instead.

Tessa goes to grab them out of the fridge and pulls a knife out of one of the blocks on the counter nearby. Scott meets her halfway, setting the glasses down on the counter just as she steps over with the pan. She pulls carefully at the parchment overhanging the two edges of the pan and then lifts out the finished batch fully onto the ready and waiting cutting board. He leans forward on his elbows, watching her and smiling easily. God help her she might even be blushing a little, for no reason she can explain. 

She gets the batch cut into individual bars, and she was right, they are perfectly set. The filling and crust cut easily and the chocolate glaze on top is just firm enough to cut but not too much that it will be hard to bite into. 

“Here,” she says, handing him one of the big pieces from the centre of the batch. She does the same for herself. 

He takes it from her and on reflex she licks her thumb and index finger free of the lingering chocolate. “Cheers, T.” Then he lifts it back towards her, and so she gives his Nanaimo bar a little tap with hers.

They bite into them at the same time. For her, it tastes just like she wanted it to. Just sweet enough, and textured, and chocolatey. She watches his expression and reads the same reaction on his face, and she knows then that he likes it too. 

“Good?” Scott asks, like he’s making sure.

“Good,” Tessa answers. 

And it is. It’s so good, not just the dessert but the way he’s looking at her — and the way she can feel herself looking at him. She swallows the last bite and licks her lips on reflex, and watches as he does the same. She starts leaning in closer to him, her hand resting at his shoulder. But before she can close the distance between them, he does it for her, swiftly leaning in and closing his mouth over hers. 

At first she just registers the warmth of his lips, and lets herself sink into it — into the feeling of her lips against his and of his arms wrapping around her waist. Just as easily she parts her lips and runs her tongue along his, and it’s the taste of chocolate that hits her next — whether from her mouth or his she’s not sure. Then something bitter and smoky, a hint at what his cocktail must have tasted like.

Tessa’s hands move in a path from his shoulders to the back of his neck. She buries her fingers into his hair as his tongue slides against hers. For a few more moments it’s like she can’t ever imagine coming up for air, but then she finally does, regretting it even as she gasps in air. But he’s breathing hard, too, still holding her close against him. 

He brings one hand to her chin, his eyes following the path of his thumb as he rubs it along her cheek, then along the seam of her lower lip. “In case I didn’t say it before,” he says, still breathless. “I really missed seeing you too.”

She nods, breathing in the same air as he is. “I did miss you,” she says. “And I’m so glad you’re back.”

He nods in return, and then wastes no time, kissing her again even more deeply than before. 

*


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One kiss leads to another, one dinner leads to another, and Tessa and Scott's collaboration at the cabin is a success in several ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so delighted by the reception to this fic! For a minute I wondered if it would just be me and 2 other BA Test Kitchen nerds reading this, so I'm glad there are a few of us out there ;)
> 
> Once again I need to thank iwantthemtostay, thatsamoireh, and bucketsofrice for their wonderful beta-reading support. 
> 
> And just a heads up that there will for sure be a Chapter 3 but there will also be a wee pause between this chapter and the last one, as I take a couple of weeks to switch gears to my Spooktober contribution and, LBR, sequester myself from RTR feelings until I get to see it live myself. 
> 
> I definitely enjoyed writing this installment so I hope you enjoy reading it! Happy Sunday, pals.

She kisses him again, and again, and again. He kisses her back again, and again, and again. Tessa can’t tell if it’s been just minutes or an hour, but she does know she feels very lucky that by the time Andrew stops by to get their reviews on his cocktails, she and Scott have paused for a moment. If Andrew thinks anything in particular about the dishevelled appearance of Scott’s hair or the way Tessa’s apron has come entirely untied at the back, he doesn’t say anything. But he does take the liberty of trying one of Tessa’s Nanaimo bars and then spends several extended minutes chatting with them and acting as though nothing is at all askew. 

Tessa thinks Andrew’s enjoying this more than a little bit, and from the way Scott’s looking at him she guesses he’ll be having a pointed conversation with Andrew later. She almost bites her lip from stifling a laugh at the thought. But eventually Andrew does wind up the conversation, collect their cocktail glasses, and bid them goodnight with a grin. 

Scott exhales a breath and rubs a hand across his face, relieved as though he’s just passed an exam. “Well, that was sufficiently awkward,” he says, almost laughing. He leans forward, elbows resting on the marble countertop. 

“Ah, I wouldn’t worry about it,” Tessa reassures him, rubbing one hand briefly at his shoulder. “Andrew’s been here for a few years, I’m sure he’s encountered much stranger situations. Besides, if he doesn’t think the rest of the office knows about him and Kaitlyn sneaking off together every other day at mid-afternoon break, then I’ll be very surprised.” She leans forward with her arms against the counter, too, mirroring Scott’s posture. 

“Oh, totally. That’s got to be the biggest open secret in the place,” he says knowingly, his voice sounding much more confident once again. He lets out another breath. Then he looks over at her, his smile so relaxed and happy now. “So...you want to get out of here? We could take some Nanaimo bars to go,” he says, nudging her elbow with his and giving a nod to the dessert squares in question. 

Tessa smiles back, unable to stop herself. “I would like that,” she admits. She looks over at the cutting board and admires them with a slightly needy sigh, thinking about what it would be like to take them home with her...not to mention him, too. But it doesn’t take much for her to dial back into the fatigue she’s been feeling all day, and the physical relief she’d felt earlier knowing she could pack up everything from the finished _ Gourmet Treats _ episode and just wait one more day for the weekend to arrive. She turns back to Scott, already feeling the agonizing regret of saying what she’s about to say. But just like earlier when he’d kissed her first, he does the job for her.

“But...you need to go get some rest,” he says. And while he does sound disappointed - she certainly _ feels _ disappointed, for that matter - he’s also clearly understanding. She nods, and his gentle smile returns. “It’s okay, T. We can figure it out tomorrow. Or...whenever. As long as…”

Tessa leans in quickly and kisses his lips, once, twice, and then a third lingering time. “As long as we get to do that again,” she supplies for him. 

To her surprise he just looks back at her for a moment, leaning against her and then taking her hand in his. “Good,” he says simply. “Yes. That’s enough for me.”

“Yeah? Nothing else? Not even another Nanaimo bar?” she asks teasingly. 

Scott grins even more and she can tell he’s still not going to turn down taking some home with him if he can help it. But he nods anyway. “Not even another Nanaimo bar,” he agrees. 

She wraps some up for him anyway, resisting the urge to write a little note to him on the parchment as she does so. 

And a little while later when she gets home to her Little Burgundy walk-up apartment she falls soundly into a dreamless sleep, hoping for so many things.

*

But then, as it happens, the next morning she wakes feeling congested and feverish - evidence that her fatigue and aches from the day before were more than just her feeling overworked. She manages to fix herself a cup of hot lemon, locate the acetaminophen, and tap out a sick day message to Marie-France and Shae-Lynn before falling back into bed. 

When she wakes again it’s a few hours later. Her fever seems to have broken, but she’s left with aches and congestion all the same. It’s only after she’s gotten herself a plate of toast with honey and settled herself in bed again that she thinks to check her phone. She finds a few messages, the normal mix of updates from friends and family, but then a few from people at work, too. Kaitlyn says she hopes she’s feeling better and that she’ll stop by with soup after work. Tessa responds gratefully, already feeling like making toast was enough of an exertion.

And then there are a few messages from Scott. Including two from the night before - she kicks herself for missing them.

_ ‘The Nanaimo bars were quickly dispatched. Thank you again.’ _

_ ‘I hope I can help with another evening baking session again, just say when.’ _

And then from earlier today -

_ ‘A little bird told me you’re under the weather. Hope you get good rest and feel better soon. Don’t think about Goldfish or Aeros.’ _

She laughs out loud a little at that. Just as she’s thinking about a response she sees the thread light up with a new message.

_ ‘I’m going to send a get-well token in a little bit. In case you need sustenance!’ _

It’s a nice thought, and fleetingly she wonders if he’ll be delivering it himself. But then, she realizes she hasn’t yet told him where she lives.

_ 'Thanks,’ _ she writes him back. ‘_’d much rather be over there in the kitchen with you guys,’ _she tells him, because it’s true.

His answer arrives quickly. _ ‘We miss you. But not your germs. Rest up and feel better!’ _

There’s no emoji or anything else to punctuate the message, which endears him to her a little bit. She can’t tell if he’s holding back from being too forward, or if he’s just not an emoji kind of guy. If nothing else, she’s feeling grateful for the connection. In her haze of a day spent recovering in bed there’s a part of her mind that’s half-convinced her she might have imagined the previous evening entirely. 

By the afternoon Tessa makes an effort to at least change it up from the bed to the couch, settling in there with a tea tray on the coffee table and a modest nest of blankets and pillows surrounding her. She tries watching a few shows but eventually turns to a chapter in her well worn copy of _ Pride and Prejudice_. She’s halfway through the Netherfield ball when she starts nodding off again. 

When she blinks herself awake again the light is a little warmer, signalling the end of the afternoon. She sits up sluggishly, feeling somehow still tired but also much more rested, and sees more messages blinking on her phone. She’s just starting to scroll through them when she hears the noise of a key in the lock of her front door and sits up straighter, halfway to standing up and investigating when she hears Kaitlyn’s voice from the front hall. 

Tessa lets out a breath, remembering of course that Kaitlyn’s had a spare key to her place for ages. She now recalls her message from earlier.

“I’m in here, Weavs,” she calls half-heartedly. Her voice sounds scratchy even to her.

She can hear the sound of the front door closing a moment before Kaitlyn breezes into the living room. “What’s left of you, anyway,” she says when she sees Tessa. She sets her things down on the floor and tosses off her jacket. “What are you even doing with a cold right now anyway, didn’t you get the message that it’s spring?”

Tessa lets out a mild groan, leaning back against her pillows. “I swear I never used to get sick more than once a year,” she says pitiably. “I blame all the sugar I’ve been eating since January.”

“You’re probably right about that,” Kaitlyn says. She comes over to give her a hug, despite Tessa’s protests not to get too close. “Your immune system needs vegetables. _ And _ soup,” she adds. “In case you couldn’t tell, I come bearing provisions.”

“Yeah?” Warm food does sound very appealing.

“Yeah. Some are from me and some are from Scott,” Kaitlyn says. Tessa observes, to Kaitlyn’s credit, that she lifts one eyebrow a little but doesn’t press. 

“Ah, that’s nice of him. I swear I’ll be fine, I just need another day or two.” She’s momentarily glad to be feeling under the weather because her blush will be hidden under her flushed post-fever haze. But she knows she is blushing a little.

“Are you sure?” Kaitlyn asks. “There’s a late season thing going around…” She reaches forward and presses the back of her hand gently to Tessa’s forehead and then her cheek. “Well, you do feel warm but not on death’s door, I guess,” she allows.

“Thanks, _ Mom_,” Tessa responds, sarcastic but still grateful. It feels nice to have someone fuss over her. And saying as much reminds her she does owe her mom and sister some phone calls to catch up. “I’ll live, Weavs, I promise.”

“Good,” she exhales. “I do have food for you, though. You need something more than toast.”

“You’re too nice,” Tessa insists, albeit weakly.

“I was testing a stew today anyway, so I brought you some leftovers if that sounds good. But then Scott also sent me back with some soup, he told me it’s his special cold and flu remedy,” Kaitlyn reports.

“Oh yeah? I think I’d better try that first, then.”

“You haven’t heard what it is, yet. It’s _ garlic soup_, Tess.”

Tessa lifts her eyebrows a little. When he said he was sending her a get well token she’d thought it might be a package of his favourite tea or a jar of honey. She’d never imagined he’d actually go to the trouble of making her something. “You’re kidding,” is all she can say.

“Nope,” Kaitlyn answers. “He must really like you, T,” she says a little more gently. Clearly Scott’s nicknames are catching on. 

“He…” Tessa starts to answer and then finds her voice trailing off along with her thoughts. Instead she can’t help but smile amidst her haze, just thinking how much he really must like her, and how much she likes him back.

Kaitlyn smiles more, her eyes practically glinting. She nudges Tessa gently. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Maybe you can tell me more about it while I warm up some of this ridiculous soup,” she says.

Tessa coughs out a laugh. “Okay. I think I can manage that,” she answers. Then she lifts her eyebrows and nudges her friend back. “And maybe you can tell me more about you and Andrew, too,” she says, just as gently as Kaitlyn, too, but no less keen. She’s rewarded with a knowing laugh.

“Touché,” Kaitlyn says. 

A few minutes later Kaitlyn’s made her way around Tessa’s kitchen and not only has the soup warming up but the makings of grilled cheese sandwiches already started. She sets up Tessa with food at the coffee table and curls herself into the armchair, and while they eat Tessa tells her everything.

And the garlic soup is delicious.

*

On Monday, Tessa arrives back at work, still congested but feeling much more like a normal human being. After three days cooped up in her apartment she’s very glad to be back in the office and thinking about her cooking projects again; no matter what else happens today she refuses to spend another day just sitting around.

As she makes her way through the office, she’s greeted in turn by her well-wishing co-workers. She discovers a box of mint tea from Kurt, with a little get-well note attached to it, and a small package of colourful tissues from Kaetlyn. She pockets the tissues and brews herself a mug of the tea right away, happy to have the boost from her friends and yet also very ready to get back to the tasks ahead. 

But there’s no sign of Scott just yet. She hovers around a little longer before heading to the test kitchen, prepared to start the next filming task later in the morning. 

Maia comes to find her as she’s heading down and they chat about the set-up and timing. Tessa’s glad she’ll have a couple of hours to do some preparation. This will be her sixth _ Gourmet Treats _ video and in many ways she still feels like it’s the first. Each one so far has brought such a unique combination of challenges in the kitchen and has definitely tested her knowledge of candy-making and dessert-making skills beyond pastry and cakes. She takes a deep breath as she sits down at her desk, making some notes and planning a rough sketch for her week. 

After a short while she’s aware of someone standing next to her, and when she turns she sees Scott. She smiles instantly and stands to greet him properly, but then finds herself hesitating about doing anything else more demonstrative. 

“You probably shouldn’t get too close, just in case,” she says to cover her awkwardness. It feels strange not to at least hug him - and she’d like to do more than that - but they’re out here in the open with other people starting to mill around in the big test kitchen space and she and Scott haven’t figured out what exactly they’re doing yet. She’s still not sure what one after-work makeout session and a few text message chats qualifies them as, relationship-wise. But she’s more than happy to keep going with this, whatever it is.

“You’re worth the risk, Virtch,” he says, and wraps his arms around her briefly. “It’s good to see you on the mend.”

“Technically I was only out one day, it’s not as though I was on death’s door,” she insists, very much ready to get back to a normal routine and for people to stop fussing.

“Still, we gotta look after you, you’re our most important face of the _ J’ai Faim _ test kitchen, right?”

“What?” Tessa coughs out, mostly from incredulity rather than illness. “I’m just part of the team, look at how many of us there are.” She gestures around to the rear of the kitchen where Kaetlyn and Kurt are chatting, and Andrew and Patrick looking over some notes at another workstation. 

“I’ve seen those viewer numbers, T,” Scott says, gently encouraging. He stands a little closer to her, almost hip to hip. “People are tuning in for _ you _. It doesn’t matter if it’s Goldfish crackers or Aeros or what,” he tells her. 

If someone else were to tell her that she might reject it out of hand as being too speculative or effusive, but somehow when he says it, she believes it. “Thanks,” she answers simply. She can’t help the smile that spreads across her face. 

He smiles too, giving her arm a squeeze. “You got this, T. Sniffles and all. What’s on the docket this week?”

She takes in a breath. “Against my better judgement, it’s Coffee Crisps.”

Scott’s smile broadens too. “Ohhh, yes, you decided to go for it!”

Tessa laughs outright. “I actually did not have final say in the matter, but...yeah. I guess it was time we gave in. Give the people what they want.”

“I’m glad you did; those are my favourite.”

Tessa laughs again, practically honking through her congestion. When she looks at him again his expression has softened a little, like he’s waiting on her next words. “You have a lot of favourites, did you know that?” Is all she thinks of to say next, simultaneously nudging him back just like he’d done a moment ago. But it’s true - he’s said that about maple cookies, and lemon bars, and Nanaimo bars. But then remembering the Nanaimo bars makes her think about four nights ago, and then she reminds herself she has to focus on her day at work. 

“Well, yeah,” Scott shrugs. “Coffee Crisps are awesome. There are so many good treats, you know? And _ I’d _ certainly have no idea how to make them. You’re basically a superhero.”

“_Stop it _,” Tessa says, still giggling as she gives him a brief shove, like they’ve devolved into some kind of sixth-grade expression of affection. 

“I will not. Anyway, I just wanted to make sure I came by before you started. And to give you these, they’re the only kind that work for me when I’m under the weather,” he says, handing her a bag of cough drops. At a glance she recognizes them as one of the European kinds that you can’t always find in the regular drugstores. “And we can maybe chat later, right?”

“Of course,” she nods, her laughter subsiding but not fading completely. “Yes, I’d like that.”

“Good.” He leans in a little more closely and then looks around at the rest of the kitchen. At that moment Maia and Alex seem to be very focussed on setting up the camera and microphone, and at the other end Andrew and Patrick are walking off towards the elevators. Scott turns back to her and leans in just a little. “I’d really like to kiss you again right now,” he says, his voice low. 

A thrill runs through her at the very mention. She glances around the kitchen just as she had, wondering at whether anyone would notice just now. But she doesn’t dare risk it - not when they’re still so new at whatever this is, not in the middle of a workday surrounded by everyone else.

“Me too,” Tessa tells him, certain that she’s blushing furiously. “Go, do what you need to do today and I’ll see you later. After I’ve got these Coffee Crisps handled.”

“You got this, T,” he repeats. He leaves her with another blindingly charming smile, and then he’s off.

*

“Hey everyone, it’s me, Tessa, and we’re here in the _ JF _ test kitchen making gourmet...Coffee Crisps!” She gestures to the display of candy arranged in front of her on the marble countertop, grinning genuinely. She’s feeling a strange juxtaposition of giddy excitement and _ laissez-faire _ freedom. Truthfully, it _ is _ important to her to do a good job on this one because of how much interest there is in this particular candy. But at the same time she’s also coming around to Scott’s notion that it might not entirely matter what she makes, just that people are still tuning in to watch her figure it out. And isn’t that what Marie-France and Patrice had encouraged her about in the very beginning?

There’s an array of different Coffee Crisp packages in front of her, and she reaches for one of the regular individual bars. “I have to say this is one of the most requested items for our little _ Gourmet Treats _ series, and it’s really not hard to see why,” Tessa explains to the camera. “These guys are a Canadian classic for sure. Apparently they’ve tried to market these in other countries but for some reason it hasn’t taken off, I really can’t understand why.”

She opens up the yellow wrapper and pulls out the chocolate-covered bar, and then breaks it in half. “Oh, it even smells like chocolate and coffee, doesn’t it? I mean, admittedly my sense of smell is not fully with me right now,” she adds, indicating her congestion that is obvious from the way her voice sounds right now. “But even still, I can tell what it smells like. And look at those layers, right?”

She holds up the bar towards Alex and the camera, so he can get a good shot of the cross-section. “There’s two sections of wafers with a bigger layer of coffee cream in the middle. And it’s got a little bit of that bubbly texture in the coffee cream layer, sort of like Aeros, really,” she explains, already thinking out loud about her process. Next she takes a bite. Even amidst the congestion she can still taste the sweet flavour and the crunchy wafers. “Mmm, yeah. That’s still pretty good,” Tessa says, half to herself and half to the camera. “I always liked these, and I still do sometimes.” She takes another nibble just because. “Sometimes if I’m rushing somewhere and I just want a treat, I’ll grab one of these, there’s something about it that’s so classic and satisfying.”

Then she turns to the display in front of her. The production team has managed to assemble a few varieties of Coffee Crisps, which impresses Tessa considerably. “I always thought there was just one kind of Coffee Crisp, but I was wrong! Oh my gosh, where did you guys dig these up?” She picks up a few of the others, one package at a time, glancing over at Maia and Shae-Lynn who are contentedly watching and making their production notes as Tessa talks. 

“It turns out we know a few people in the industry,” Shae-Lynn says with a wink, and Tessa knows for the final video they’ll subtitle her voice since she’s just off-camera. “Plus I think some of these were released as special anniversary flavours,” she adds.

“Oh, I hope they keep them. French Vanilla, Triple Mocha?” Tessa narrates. “Oh I need to try these.” She takes a bite of each one, nodding approvingly. “Yeah, these are pretty delicious. It’s hard to improve on the original but these come pretty close.” She picks up one of the packages that are clearly marketed for Halloween, just as Kaetlyn comes by, all smiles.

“Oh my God, it’s Coffee Crisps this week? _ Tess-a,” _ she exclaims, coming to join her without needing to be waved over. “Oh I’ve been waiting for the week you were going to do these.”

Tessa’s not surprised at her reaction. “I know, you’re not the only one, believe me,” she says. “We’ve read the comments, guys, don’t worry!” She glances pointedly at the camera. 

“And come on, the Halloween ones?” Kaetlyn reaches for one. “Oh these are so brilliant.”

Tessa agrees right away, nodding. “I mean, ‘Coffin Crisp’? Come on, that’s fantastic. I know it’s only going to taste the same as the regular ones but I still have to try it, that’s just how good it is.” She unwraps the bar with its black spooky wrapper and splits it so she and Kaetlyn can each take a bite, and of course it is exactly the same as the regular bars but still delicious. 

“Mmm, so good,” Kaetlyn sighs.

“What’s your favourite part?” Tessa asks. She knows she has to start gathering her requirements for what she needs to replicate in order to get this right. 

“I mean...all of it?” she answers.

Tessa laughs. She’s heard that before. “Well, sure.”

“I think the fact that it’s so crispy is really important,” Kaetlyn adds next. “It’s so light, like when you bite through it it doesn’t instantly crumble away on you or anything like that, it’s still one bar even though it’s got all these layers.”

“Right, that’s a good point,” Tessa thinks. It’s true that it all has to feel like a cohesive piece of candy. 

A few minutes later Kaetlyn leaves, a package of Coffee Crisps under her arm. Tessa makes a note to squirrel away some of the special flavours for her later, too. Patrick and Andrew each stop by over the next half hour and weigh in, too, just as eager as Kaetlyn. 

“Okay,” Tessa tells the camera, pulling out a ruler and paring knife and sliding a cutting board onto the counter-top in front of her. “I’m going to get some measurements here,” she explains, making a note of the length, width, and depth of the bar, just to be precise. Truthfully she’s not sure how close she’ll actually get to these dimensions, but she’ll definitely try. “It’s actually quite even distribution between the layers,” she observes. She uses the paring knife to pry apart each of the three layers - two sets of wafers surrounding a centre layer of bubbly coffee cream. “I think my work on the Aero bars a few months back will be pretty helpful for this, because the coffee cream layer isn’t too dissimilar. I’m hoping I can use that same method with the aerated canister and that it’ll just be a matter of getting the right recipe.” 

Gingerly she takes a piece of the coffee filling and tastes it. “I think we’re looking at some kind of white chocolate mixture here, maybe heavy on the cocoa butter?” She takes another taste. “It’s actually fairly brittle once you bite into it, so that’s something I think we can actually improve upon here in the test kitchen, I’d like to see that become a really decadent white mocha filling,” she tells the camera with a wink.

“What I’m more worried about is the wafers,” Tessa says next, taking up one of the isolated pieces in both hands. “These are very fine, so each wafer layer actually has three individual wafers, with some kind of chocolate-coffee layer in between,” she sighs. She breaks off another piece and gives it a taste again, then dusts her hands and turns towards the camera with a decisive look. “So, that’s where we’ll start,” she nods.

A moment later as she’s gathering up as many of the chocolate bar packets as she can to clear them off to the side, she glances up and sees Scott watching her from the bench at the far end of the test kitchen. He’s in the process of assembling a few materials but from the way he’s looking at her it’s clear he’s been keeping an eye on her for a little while. She hadn’t noticed, but now that she realizes it she can’t help blushing a little bit. She wonders if he’ll show up in the background of the footage, like some kind of patient guardian. Turning away from the camera she throws him a wink and a smile, and he does the same in return.  


*

Later that afternoon, Tessa has re-set her station with a few baking ingredients and is ready to start the first test of the wafers. Despite the hours already spent filming, she’s feeling a little better. She has Kaetlyn’s tissues in her apron pocket and she’s still feeling warm from the soup Scott brought by for her at lunch break. Maia retouched her makeup again but Tessa has the feeling she still looks very rosy-cheeked compared to her normal pale and freckled complexion, and at this point there isn’t much she can do about that. 

As the camera starts rolling she focuses her attention on the ingredients, turning to read the Coffee Crisp label once more. 

“What are you thinking first, Tess?” Alex prompts her. 

“I’m thinking...that the ingredients list is actually kind of interesting,” Tessa says with a glance towards him. “It’s confirming my suspicions that the filling is a flavoured variation on white chocolate, judging from the cocoa butter and milk ingredients, so that should set me up pretty well to work on the coffee creme filling,” she explains. “But it actually lists both yeast and baking soda on the label as well, which is really useful information about the wafers. The fact that there’s both yeast and a raising agent in there means it’s not just about the crispness factor but that this is actually a kind of dough. Which would also explain how the bars manage to avoid that brittle factor. I think...” she pauses, actually thinking about it. “I think I’m going to work with a yeasted waffle batter to start with, because that’s going to have all the elements we’re looking for.”

Tessa spends the next hour or so doing just that. She makes some modifications to a waffle batter recipe she became familiar with while in France - giving her a chance to chat a little bit about her time there, which she hasn’t gotten to do as much of on camera, yet - and sets to work making a few tests with a small electric waffle iron. Then, she melts some milk chocolate, getting it ready to accompany the first wafer samples. 

Once the waffles are entirely cool she slices one in half through the middle very carefully, eliciting some laughter as she does so. “I’m laughing - I know Alex is going to ask me why I’m laughing - because I can already tell I’m going to need to do many more tests on these,” she says, now outright giggling. “My thought process was, let’s get the waffles cool and dry, and then try slicing them as thin as possible to try to mimic those layers in the real bars. But I think, in actuality, what I’ve really been doing is just making chocolate-filled Belgian waffles,” she explains, still laughing. Tessa keeps forging ahead, though, not stopping at slicing through the middle. She makes an attempt at trimming off the hollow waffle divots from the top and bottom and ends up with a slightly mangled flat waffle. “Oh, this is kind of a disaster.” She wipes the back of her hand across her forehead.

Kurt has been working away at the bench behind Tessa all day and hasn’t offered many comments just yet. But Tessa can tell he’s been observing her work with interest and when she looks over at him just now she’s rewarded with a warm expression. “Did you know this is what I was going to end up making?” she asks him.

“I did kind of wonder,” he admits. 

Tessa lets out a groan. “I can’t believe I didn’t see this coming,” she says.

“It’s alright! You’re playing with a handicap today,” Kurt offers supportively. “Plus I didn’t want to come off too picky,” he says, glancing at the camera with a mock-hurt look on his face.

“Please,” Tessa scoffs, immediately discarding the suggestion. “Pickiness is supportiveness around here, especially when we’re in testing mode,” she says, also looking back into the camera for emphasis. She knows some of the now-dedicated viewers have started to feel protective of Tessa in those moments when Kurt offers his suggestions. “And anyway, you’re right, it turns out soup and cold medication have given me back no edge whatsoever.”

“Okay, but this is just test number one,” Kurt reasons. He steps over next to her at her station, clearly enjoying the situation but in a sympathetic way. “You still learned something, right?”

“Sure,” Tessa exhales. “Although we should actually go ahead and taste these first, then I’ll be able to say what I learned.” She uses a small offset spatula to spread some of the melted milk chocolate onto a couple of the better looking waffle layers, and then presses another waffle layer on top of each. Then, she takes her chef’s knife and slices each of them into a couple of bars. 

It’s then that Scott walks by, curious to see Tessa’s progress. She notices him and encourages him over with a nod.

“Hey, do you want to try some of my first Not-At-All-Coffee-Crisps?”

“Always,” Scott answers enthusiastically. He comes to stand next to Kurt, and Tessa hands each of them one of the sliced pieces. Together they each take a bite.

Tessa’s expecting it to taste just like she said it would - like a chocolate-filled Belgian waffle - and in a lot of ways that’s exactly what it does taste like. But she had managed to get it fairly crispy as a result of the recipe modifications - swapping in an egg white for one of the whole eggs, adding a little bit of cornstarch for the flour - and it pleases her to see that it’s been successful in that respect. She looks at the guys to see their reaction.

“I mean, it doesn’t taste bad,” Kurt emphasizes. He finishes chewing his first bite and then gives the piece another sniff, nodding approvingly before finishing the rest.

Scott nods in agreement, before finishing the rest of his piece in one bite. “It’s pretty tasty, T,” he says. “It’s nothing like a Coffee Crisp, but it’s pretty tasty,” he repeats, and then laughs a little which makes her laugh again too. 

“I know, I think the same thing. But I feel like if I just got it a little thinner and flatter it would get closer to what we want, though,” she says. She takes another bite of the rest of her piece and it just verifies what she’s been thinking. “The milk chocolate is nice, I don’t think it needs anything darker so I’m not going to change that up.”

“It just needs to be thinner,” Kurt offers in yet further confirmation.

“Ohh, like Stroopwafels!” Scott says all of a sudden. He’s still licking his lips a little bit, and Tessa can’t help but let her gaze linger there for a moment. 

“Stroopwafels…” Tessa answers, like she’s thinking out loud. “Oh my gosh, _ yes _,” she says. She leans her elbows on the counter-top and rests her head in her hands for a moment. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of that myself.”

“Yeah, totally, they do them in the Netherlands, right? And they get those really flat, thin layers? There’s like, a special kind of waffle iron for those, too,” Scott says. He starts glancing around the kitchen like he’s looking for one, which Tessa finds extremely charming. But she knows they don’t have one in-house - if they did she might have let her thoughts drift there sooner.

“Can we get one of those?” Tessa asks, looking this time at Maia and Shae-Lynn, who have been following the chatter with delight. 

“Sure!” Shae-Lynn offers. She’s the one managing the digital production team, after all, so as long as she approves new materials purchases they’re all good. 

They take a few moments to do a search of local restaurant supply stores and find one who has what they need. Alex captures it on camera, too, and Tessa just laughs again knowing part of this will end up on the final cut. At one point she sees Scott glance at his phone and step away, and she guesses he’s been called away to a meeting. 

“Okay,” Tessa says to the camera by the end of the afternoon. “We didn’t get as far as I’d like on day one, but I did get a good test batch and learned a few things from it, which is always good,” she says with a smile. “So tomorrow will be all about a new test with the new waffle griddle once we get it in, and then we’ll see how we go from there!” 

She keeps her sign-off as cheerful as she can, but once the camera officially stops rolling she starts to realize how tired she truly is. They call it a wrap, then, and Tessa’s grateful when the crew waves her off from trying to help clean up this time. Normally she’d stay even longer than them but today she doesn’t mind their insistence. She thanks them and promises to rest up that evening, ready for more action the next day. 

The kitchen is fairly quiet already. Tessa doesn’t want to leave without seeing Scott once more, and so she heads back up to the office floor. As she walks she pulls out her phone and sends him a text. She gets to her desk and starts collecting her things. She takes her time slipping on her jacket and putting everything in her bag, glancing at her phone more than once as she does so. 

It’s as she’s about to step into the elevator that Scott catches up to her. “Oh good, I didn’t miss you,” he says, slightly out of breath. He must have run down all the way from the other end of the floor. “I had to go to a last minute production meeting.”

“I was hoping to catch you before I left,” she says, glad to finally get him one on one again. “Walk down with me?”

“Of course! Why do you think I had to run all the way?” he asks, now sounding slightly less breathless. “I got your text and had to play it cool and wait while everything wrapped up.” They step into the elevator together and he presses the button for the ground floor. 

“What was the meeting about?” After spending her day mired in Coffee Crisp world she finds she’s more than keen to hear about someone else’s culinary production exploits. It feels a little like opening up the curtains after many hours shut inside.

“We might have to re-shoot some of the footage from the location stuff last week,” he says, slightly deflated.

“Oh,” is all she can say back, not bothering to hide her glum reaction. “Does that mean you’ll be heading out again?” The elevator opens at the ground floor and he gestures for her to exit first, which she does. 

“Yeah,” he answers, his tone mirroring hers. He follows her through the lobby and they head out through the big revolving doors. “But not until the day after tomorrow. So I was thinking…”

“Yeah?” Her smile returns as she eagerly awaits the rest of that sentence. She pauses, turning to wait in front of the doors and let him catch up to her. It’s a cool evening for May but still pleasant for walking.

“If you’re feeling up to it, can I maybe make you dinner tomorrow night? I promise it’ll be something more than garlic soup,” he adds. He’s looking at her so eagerly she can hardly stand it.

“Yes,” Tessa says unequivocally, laughing delightedly. “Yes, you may. And the garlic soup was very nice, I liked it a lot,” she tells him, because she realizes then that she only thanked him for it over text message, not in person.

“Great,” he answers with a big smile. “Do you have any allergies? Any restrictions I should know about?”

She adores him a little more for asking, and can tell how much he wants to get it right. “No, none,” she shakes her head. “Unless you count dull taste buds due to congestion,” she adds. She turns a little to start walking and he falls into step next to her easily. It occurs to her then she’s never chatted with him outside of work like this before and she doesn’t even know where he lives or if he takes the same Metro route as her.

“Oh, we can work with that,” he says. “Just leave it to me.”

“I will, thank you. Just tell me when and where,” she tells him. 

They continue walking to the Metro stop - it turns out he takes the same route as her for at least part of the journey - and make a plan for tomorrow night. It’s only when they separate to step through the fare gates that she realizes they’ve been holding hands as they walked - they must have been for at least a couple of blocks. 

As they continue walking to the platform she fits her hand easily back into his. Just before she gets off the train for her stop - and a promise on her part to rest up that evening - she kisses him as long as she can manage.

*

The next day Tessa arrives at work feeling much better, having gotten sound sleep and a lot of it. The congestion is even clearing a little more and she can smell and taste things better, too, which makes her feel very relieved. Once in front of the camera again she half-laughs off the previous day as a kind of fever dream that she’s not entirely sure what happened in it. She does remember her job for today is to get to some wafer-like waffles. 

So she spends the morning in the kitchen making multiple waffle tests with the new griddle until she has something that feels crisp and tastes light while still holding its shape. That on its own is enough to make her feel triumphant, but then she realizes she needs to get them even lighter and crispier, and that’s when she remembers the food dehydrator. Scott had helped her with it on the Goldfish episode but today she’s feeling confident and gets it set up on her own. Today he hasn’t been around in the kitchen as much, which she suspects is due to prepping for his last minute location re-shoots. It’s possible she spends a little more time than necessary chatting on camera about Scott as she sets up the dehydrator, but the production crew are kind enough to pretend not to notice.

After she takes the now-wafer-layers out of the dehydrator there’s just enough time at the end of the afternoon to put them together with some layers of milk chocolate in between. “I’d like to let these set up a little more before we do a definitive taste test, and so we’ll have them rest overnight for sure,” Tessa explains to the camera. Then she pauses, looking at the thin little layered stacks of wafer and chocolate on the cutting board in front of her. “But I kind of want to taste them now,” she adds, partly to the camera but mostly to herself. She reaches for her knife and cuts the edge off of one of the wafer stacks, pleased at how it slices without too much chocolate oozing out of the sides. Her gaze flickers over to the camera for a moment and then back to the wafers in her hands and then she just takes a bite.

Right away Tessa feels relieved. It’s definitely not as firmly set as it needs to be, but the taste is just right. “Mm,” is all she can say at first. “It’s good. It’s good, it’s…” She pauses to taste the rest of it. “The wafers are light, and thin, and the chocolate is just rich enough without overpowering everything else, and...yes, I’m happy with this,” she ends with a nod. 

Scott and Patrick walk through the kitchen just then, and she’s so glad to wave them over. 

“Did you do it, T?” Scott asks right away, coming to stand next to her. 

“Ohh, they look like wafer layers!” Patrick comments from Scott’s other side, leaning over to get a good look at them. 

“They _ do, _” Tessa agrees triumphantly. 

“Can we…” Scott starts to reach towards one of the wafers, clearly wanting to try a piece. 

“Oh my gosh, yes, of course you have to try it too.” Tessa immediately slices off two more pieces for him and Patrick. 

They each take their bites simultaneously and seem to react at the same time, too. Patrick’s expression immediately lights up in delight, while Scott just smiles, looking between Tessa and the treat in his hands.

“That’s really great, Tess,” Patrick says first. “The wafers are so close to how they are in the bars!”

Scott’s nodding. “Totally great. Honestly I’d eat a whole bar just of these, you don’t even need the coffee filling,” he says. 

Tessa’s not sure if he’s just saying that to boost her or if he really means it - or maybe both at the same time - but she’s more than happy to take the compliment. At the very least it affirms that she’s back on the right track with this challenge. “Oh, I’m glad,” she says simply, feeling not so much relieved as validated. “And you’ll be so pleased, not only did I use that new waffle griddle to get the really thin wafers, I also put them in the dehydrator to get them even lighter. They’re so nice and crisp now.”

“Look at _ you_, T,” Scott reacts. She’s standing close enough to him that it doesn’t take much movement for him to nudge her satisfyingly. “Mastering all the gadgets.”

“_Hah_,” Tessa laughs. “Yeah, maybe I will,” she says, standing up a little straighter. “It’ll be worth it if it makes it easier to pull off these crazy challenges.” She leans forward again for the knife and slices off another little piece of the wafer layers nearest to her - she needs to be saving these to set overnight and probably shouldn’t be eating so much of them now, but what the hell - and when she stands up straight again to take a bite she’s standing close next to Scott, shoulder to shoulder.

She turns to look at him on reflex, still chewing her bite. In that same moment as he finishes off the rest of his piece, he turns to look at her, and suddenly they’re standing with their faces so close. When she swallows down her bite she’s aware of him doing the exact same thing at the exact same time, and for a second she’s just distracted, watching his expression...his lips. And she notices him doing the same for her.

It’s then that Patrick clears his throat, and she and Scott blink and lean away from each other a little bit, turning back to the baking challenge at hand. 

“Are you going to do the coffee filling tomorrow, Tess?” Patrick asks. “It’s got to be pretty close to the Aeros, right?”

“Yes,” she confirms, forcing her voice back into a light and airy tone. “That’s the plan. I’ll let these guys set a little more overnight, then do one or two tests with some aerated coffee creme, and then...and then we’ll see how that goes!” This last part she directs to the camera, with equal parts enthusiasm and relief.

On the other side of the camera Tessa can see Alex giving a thumbs up as they call it a wrap, seemingly oblivious to anything but a job well done at the end of the day. But Shae-Lynn’s looking at her with a sort of curious, admiring expression. And while Maia’s not saying anything to draw attention to her and Scott’s little close call, she’s grinning like she’d love nothing more than to pull Tessa off to one side and gossip like they’re both in high school. And truth be told, there’s a part of Tessa that wouldn’t mind doing just that. There are times when she adores Maia like a younger sister and what would be more sisterly than a little boy talk?

But instead she plays it as cool as she can, smiling charmingly while the crew helps her clean up, and then she heads up to grab her things from the office - a discrete several minutes after Scott does - and walk out with him. 

Because tonight, she has a date for dinner.   


*

Scott’s place is another fifteen minutes’ journey farther than Tessa’s normal route, taking them into a beautiful tree-lined street in the north end of the city. Scott reaches for her hand again as they walk through his neighbourhood and points out little details of interest: the cafe he often stops at on the weekend when he has more time; the bistro that opened up a couple of months ago that he’s only been to once but wants to visit again; the park where he always sees people bringing their dogs and makes him wish he had one of his own. 

They get to his place - another second-floor walk-up in a big row house, just like hers - and he immediately gets her comfortable with a glass of wine at the large kitchen island. He sets to work preparing their dinner, keeping the conversation going the whole time. At first she’s delighted to sit and chat and watch him work, but after a little while she can’t help but offer to step in and help. To his credit he lets her, not breaking stride at all but immediately sliding over a cutting board and some vegetables to chop. Next he gives her some spices to crush in the mortar and pestle. 

“I’m glad you were there today. I still can’t believe I thought I was actually getting somewhere before and all I did was make a fancy crispy waffle,” she shakes her head as they work.

“Don’t sell yourself short, T. I should tell you the story of how I spent three weeks trying to get the perfect potato salad recipe at the cafe,” he says, pausing his stirring. “My customers were extremely patient with me. It was like I was working through some kind of sudden deep-seated obsession with potatoes.”

She laughs. “Oh, now I need to try that potato salad.”

“Deal. Pretty soon it’ll be picnic weather anyway. At least, I hope so - I’ve heard spring can be a little unpredictable here.”

“We’ll manage it,” she answers, fully charmed. “But I mean it, I like having you there on my _ Gourmet Treats _ days, it always feels...well, you’re just so enthusiastic, it’s kind of infectious.”

“‘Has a hard time sitting still,’ is how my teachers always put it,” he says.

“My viewers are going to love seeing you again, you know. Your lack of appearance in the Nibs episode was very much commented upon.” 

As they both work they keep talking, and laughing. She gets to know him better in that hour or two, learning that he grew up in Ontario just like she did.

“Ilderton?” Tessa asks, incredulous. “You’re not serious.” She’s back sitting at the island now, watching him do the final fussing over the curry on the stove. 

“Of course I’m serious,” he tells her, just as insistent. “Ilderton, born and raised. My dad still runs the skate shop and my aunt still runs the skating program at the arena.”

“Oh my gosh, I skated there sometimes when I was little!” she gasps. “I grew up in London, my mom used to take us skating in the winter.”

“No way,” he says, both delighted and amazed. “That’s just crazy, there’s no way we didn’t cross paths. How long did you live there?”

“We moved to Toronto when I was nine,” she tells him. “After my parents separated my mom wanted a bit of a clean start, and I was keen to try the ballet school, so it all made sense. And anyway my older brothers were off to university a few years after that, so there were a few years it was really just me and mom and my sister,” she continues, her voice softening a little. She’s not used to talking about her childhood very often, it feels so far away and distant now that she has the career she does, and here in Montreal no less. Her ballet years feel like a whole other lifetime ago.

“You took ballet? That’s so cool, do you still dance?” He’s turned off the stove and is putting each of the dishes into bowls now, setting them on the counter one at a time. Everything smells amazing; he wasn’t kidding when he’d said it wouldn’t matter if she was still a little congested. She can’t wait to taste all of it. 

“Sometimes, when I can get to a class,” Tessa says, a little wistful. “Not as much as I’d like.”

“Yeah, same. I mean, about hockey,” he adds quickly. “I used to play hockey a lot, still do sometimes but not enough. But it took me a little while to settle in here, too, next season I’ve got to find a league.”

Scott brings over some empty plates and joins her at the end of the island, arranging everything. “_ Bon appétit _,” he says with a flourish, gesturing for her to serve herself. Which she does, no further encouragement needed. 

As soon as Tessa starts eating, she realizes not only how delicious everything is, but also how little real food she’s eaten in the last few days. 

“Scott, this is...I can’t believe you made all of this just for me,” she says a little later as she serves herself another spoonful of spiced dal. “This is the best meal I’ve had in weeks.”

“Good,” Scott says simply, smiling and clearly buoyed by her response. “You deserve it, T. You’ve been working so hard on all those videos.”

“Kaitlyn said I need to eat something besides sugar, she _ may _ have a point there,” Tessa adds with a laugh. “I might need you to start feeding me more often.” She says it half-jokingly, not meaning to be entirely serious. But when she glances back at him his expression is so hopeful and kind, as though he’d love nothing more than to cook for her every week if she gave him the chance. She swallows the rest of her bite, licking her lips and finding she doesn’t know what to say next. 

Eventually Scott’s smile returns and he nods. “I’d really like that,” he says simply. Then he swallows too, letting his fork rest on his plate and brushing his hands on his knees. “I mean, I like spending time with you,” he explains further. “And I’d really like to do more of that. It can be cooking, or coffee, or just....” He shrugs, and she can’t tell if it’s the warm kitchen or something else but she’d swear his cheeks are more pink now. “It can be anything you want, T.”

“I’d like that too,” Tessa answers. She sets down her fork, too, and puts her napkin down on the table. “Whether it’s dinner, or...or other things,” she says simply, her voice lowering. 

When he kisses her this time it’s so easy, not something impulsive or surprising, or something to fit in quickly before rushing off. He leans in towards her just as she’s starting to do the same thing, closing the distance like it’s the only other thing missing from their evening. They kiss each other like it’s all they’ve needed or been waiting to do. 

And it _ is_. It’s comfort, and touch, and taste, and everything she hasn’t had enough of in her life for a long, long time. She gives herself over to it so thoroughly that it’s a long while before she pulls back quickly, as though she’s just remembered something. “Oh my gosh, Scott, we shouldn’t be doing this.”

“What do you mean?” Scott’s looking at her in sudden worry, like he’s very much hoping he hasn’t overstepped.

“I might still be contagious, Scott,” she says like it should be obvious. “You’re probably going to get sick because of me! And you’re about to go off to the woods again and you need to be fit for filming and-”

“_Tess_. I’ll be fine,” he interrupts, insistent. He waves his hand as though dismissing the very idea. “And hell, even if I’m not, I honestly don’t care. It’s like I said before, T. You’re worth it.”

Tessa lets out a sigh, shaking her head a little. She can’t believe she got this lucky, with this man. 

And after that, she has no choice but to keep on kissing him.

*

Now very much on the mend and back to normal energy levels, Tessa spends the rest of the week completing her Coffee Crisp challenge. It ends up stretching as far as Friday afternoon before she gets it all done. Her third day becomes all about getting the aerated coffee creme filling just right, and then her fourth day is the assembly and yet more work with the dehydrator to get the right texture on the completed bars. By the time she has the chocolate coating ready to go on Friday morning she’s nearly giddy with the realization she’s finally gotten to the finish line. 

Kaetlyn, Patrick, Kurt, and Andrew all make appearances on camera tasting the final product at the end of the day on Friday, and their content expressions when tasting it are almost enough on their own to make her feel like it’s been worth it. But Scott’s still away, and she misses having him there for the final taste test. If his schedule has gone according to plan he should also be wrapping up today and back in the city tonight.

Once the cameras are no longer rolling, Tessa finishes up clearing her cooking station and confirms a few notes with Maia and Shae-Lynn, and then finally allows herself to check her messages. She’s managed to put aside one of the finished bars to give Scott later, expecting to see him on the weekend once he returns, and is looking forward to telling him. 

Instead she sees a message from him already waiting. 

_ ‘I should have known better when you told me to keep my distance, but it was still worth it.’ _

Tessa pauses, momentarily unsure what he means, but then it dawns on her and she laughs out loud, there in the middle of the corridor as she’s heading to the elevators. _ ‘Aw, I take it the germs caught up with you?’ _

By the time she’s finished riding the elevator up to the offices a couple of minutes later the screen lights up with his response. _ ‘Got back early and I’m headed for bed and might never leave.’ _

She laughs again, feeling sympathetic. ‘_I can’t promise garlic soup but when you feel up for some company please let me know.’ _

_ ‘Roger that. I might take you up on that, Virtch.’ _

_ ‘Rest up, feel better soon!’ _In her mind she could finish that with some other endearment, but she holds off, not sure if they’re there yet. He doesn't feel quite like a 'sweetheart' or 'cutie' or anything like that just yet. But she adds a few emojis - a smiling face, and a heart. 

A moment later his response comes - a thumbs up, and another heart. She smiles, the simple exchange leaving her feeling warm and glad. 

*

Tessa spends her weekend alternately feeling relaxed and at loose ends. Coming to the end of filming another _ Gourmet Treats _ episode so close on the heels of the previous one has left her with a familiar sense of accomplishment, but also the odd sense that she’s entered an activity-less vacuum that needs to be filled. She’s discovered that when she finishes one of these filming blocks her mind inevitably starts drifting back to other work, other recipes, as she considers her next projects. 

Her sister Jordan nudges her even further, catching up with her on a morning phone call. “But what about the puff pastry and everything, Tess? I thought you were going to work that up with a bunch of other stuff for a cookbook pitch, right?”

“Yes,” Tessa says, a little mournfully. “I was thinking a lot about it back over the winter. Kaitlyn’s been encouraging me about it, too, I always thought I would get to it but it’s just been so busy lately. I can’t believe it’s almost June already.” Just a month ago she was still bundled up in her scarf and coat to go outside, but now here she sits with the windows open and sunlight streaming into her living room. 

“Sure, it’s not like you’ve had nothing else to do,” Jordan offers sympathetically. “How many candy videos are you up to now?”

“We just wrapped number six. And don’t tell anyone I told you, but it’s finally Coffee Crisps,” she reports. 

“Oooh, I can’t wait,” Jordan says. “You know people are going to love it. That’s been a popular request in the comment section.”

“Oh, Jo, don’t bother with those, honestly some of them are just way too picky,” Tessa interjects. She’s had an up and down relationship reading the comments herself; she doesn’t want her family getting bothered by it too.”

“Well, it’s the internet, sis, there’s bound to be a mix of stuff,” Jordan reasons. “But the numbers are going in the right direction, I’m telling you. You’ve got a hit on your hands.”

“It’s nice to think that,” Tessa admits, letting out a sigh. “Some days I still can’t tell what people are getting out of these, though. I mean, when I do the cookies and cakes and regular stuff, it’s so the people watching can learn the recipes, too. But nobody’s going to watch these videos and go home and try to make a Coffee Crisp.” She shakes her head as though punctuating the comment for herself. “But they do keep tuning in,” she muses. And it’s true. In fact the _ Gourmet Treats _ viewer numbers are starting to edge out the _ Classic Bakes _ episodes, something Marie-France pointed out to her with delight at their last planning meeting. 

“They’re tuning in to watch _ you _, Tess. I mean, sure they’re hoping to see their faves - Coffee Crisp, maple cookies, whatever,” Jordan says. “They like watching you figure it out, it probably doesn’t matter what you make.” 

“That’s what Scott says, too,” Tessa says, half lost in her thoughts.

“Scott?” Jordan perks up at the mention. “The new guy?”

“_Yes_, Scott the new guy.” She realizes now she hasn’t said much about him to Jordan in a few weeks, and now she very much has some catching up to do.

“Any interesting developments there yet?”

“_Jordan_. We’re co-workers, come on.” She knows she owes her sister some catch-up about Scott, but now that the moment’s arrived saying it out loud feels a little daunting. Other than Kaitlyn no one else knows about them and Tessa has started to feel protective of it until they figure it out a little more.

“Co-workers with a whole lot of on-screen chemistry,” Jordan offers, her voice gentle. “When you mentioned him a little while ago it sounded like you were getting to be good friends with him, Tess. Didn’t you say he made you a gift?” 

“Yeah,” she answers softly. The beautiful walnut cutting board. It’s so nice all she’s had the nerve to do is serve cheese on it, she doesn’t dare bring any sharp knives near it. A long moment passes without either her or Jordan saying anything, which Tessa gives her sister credit for. It’s the silence that eventually makes space for Tessa to say the truth. “I like him, Jo. I...I really like him,” she says, suddenly unable to keep from smiling. 

“Yeah?” Jordan answers, excited. “Well, I have the feeling he likes you back, little sis.” 

“I hope so. If he doesn’t, then kissing him was a big mistake.”

“_Tessa_!” It’s not so much an admonishment as a screech. “Aaahh, I knew it, I just _ knew it. _ Seriously, the way you two look at each other on camera…” her voice trails off on a sigh, and when she speaks again it’s just in shared excitement. “Oh, I’m glad for you, Tess. But come on now, tell me _ everything.” _

So then she does - everything that’s happened in the last week and a half, and then some. 

*

_ -YES YES YES Coffee Crisp is all I ever wanted, we knew you could do it Tessa XO- _

_ -I knew I wanted to see Scott again! Yes more Tessa/Scott please!- _

_ -BRB going out to buy a Stroopwafel griddle. Maybe not the dehydrator tho, that’s my limit- _

_ -I’m so ashamed, I haven’t had a Coffee Crisp in years, I’m going to fix that right now- _

_ -Anyone else think there was a little something with Scott and our Tessa? Am I blind or are they into each other?- _

_ -OMG Tessa’s laugh in the first test, I am _ living _ \- _

_ -I spy a test kitchen romance in the making <3 <3- _

*

If anyone else at work thinks anything in particular about Scott coming down with the same cold as Tessa a week later, no one mentions it to her. She spends her day working on recipe testing and chatting with her fellow chefs. She even finds a bit of time to return to her dissertation notes, discovering that back over the winter she’d gotten farther into her outline than she’d thought she had. When Kaitlyn who comes by her desk at the end of the day to talk about her progress and slip some writing fellowship applications under her nose, only then does Tessa realize how quickly the day has gone by.

“Oh wow, is it that late? I should get going, I…” Tessa’s voice trails off, but then she realizes Kaitlyn is one of the few people who actually knows everything going on. “I promised I’d stop by Scott’s after work.”

“Good for you,” Kaitlyn says admiringly. “I’d expect nothing less. And…” she looks around to confirm that no one’s listening in. “I’m pretty sure there’s leftover stew and dumplings from Kurt’s project earlier,” she says with a wink. “In case you wanted to bring him something to feel better.” 

“Thanks, Weavs,” she answers. “That actually sounds really good, I hadn’t thought quite that far.” She stands, stretching the kink out of her neck, and starts gathering her things to walk out with Kaitlyn at the same time. 

“I had some, it’s really good and he made a really big batch without meaning to, so there’s still extra. I bet no one will miss it. I bet it goes well with some crusty bread. And maybe some pie for dessert,” she adds. “That is if you happen to know someone who’s into making that sort of thing.” She delivers this last bit with a wink, and Tessa just smiles back, grateful. It’s nice to have a few people to share this with.

“Thank you,” Tessa says again. “I just might do that.”

Kaitlyn smiles back, laughing. “Oh man, you two.”

“I know. Just give us a bit of time. Maybe we’re going to end up being insufferably romantic,” she admits. Or maybe that’s mostly what she’s hoping for.

“All I ask is that I get to be one of your bridesmaids when the time comes.”

At that Tessa laughs out loud. “_Geez_, Kaitlyn, it’s only been a week."

“_Fine_,” she allows. They make their way to the elevators. “I’m glad for you, T, this is a good thing, you deserve a little happiness with someone.”

“Thanks, Kaitlyn. I’m starting to think you might be right.” 

A moment later Tessa leaves her and steps off on the test kitchen floor, where she finds only Shae-Lynn in the process of closing things down. A short while later she’s finally heading for the Metro, a tote bag of food in hand - including a few apples and a leftover batch of pie crust she’d stashed in the freezer a few weeks ago but never used.

When she gets to Scott’s it feels oddly like this can’t only be the second time she’s been to his place, nor only the third evening they’ve spent together. She knocks and waits, feeling like she wants to just let herself in. But maybe those days aren’t too far off, she thinks hopefully.

Scott lets her in and she hugs him warmly, just glad to see him, and know that he’s on the mend. She brushes her fingers through his hair that’s fallen forward over his forehead, affording her the chance to confirm that he’s not still feverish, at least. 

“I promise I am feeling almost like a normal human being, now,” he reassures her. “But I definitely think I got the double-strength version of whatever your thing was.” He does sound congested to her ears, but she thinks he must be on the mend if he’s cracking jokes and letting her come over for the evening. 

“Oh, poor kiddo,” Tessa says on instinct, finally finding the name she’d been chasing earlier. She leans in and presses a kiss just at the corner of his mouth, then lets him shift and kiss her lips back. He rests his arms around her waist like he doesn’t want to let her go just yet, so she sets down her bags and just stays leaning against him, one arm around his shoulder. She can feel his heartbeat so close to hers, gradually becoming calmer. It makes hers start to calm a little, too. “I missed you today,” she says gently, because it’s true. “I don’t approve of this new habit of being out on different days all the time, we’ve got to do something about that.”

Scott breathes out half a laugh. “I hope that means you’ve got kitchen stories to tell me,” he says keenly. “I am so bored I’ve started re-reading all my cookbooks. And Patrick is a great friend but he is useless at gossip,” he says, and then it’s her turn to laugh. 

“I don’t know how exciting my day was, but I will happily fill you in. _ And _ I brought real food,” she says, reaching for her things with triumph. “Stew and dumplings from Kurt, but don’t tell anyone it was me that took them.”

“_Virtch_, you’ve been holding out on me,” he says. He leaves one arm around her waist as they walk towards the kitchen. “I don’t know why that wasn’t the first thing you said when you walked in here.”

“Sorry, you get my affections first, _ then _ food,” she tells him. She means it to be almost a throwaway comment, something to be laughed off. But she feels her cheeks getting warm as she says it, and sees the way he smiles back at her. 

She gets to work warming up the food and preparing the pie filling for later - something that makes his expression light up even more than when she’d told him about the dinner itself. And then they eat together in his living room, nestled close together on his big sofa. They make room for their bowls and plates on the table amidst the piles of cookbooks - he hadn’t been kidding about that at all - and Tessa asks him about a few of them. So he tells her more about his favourite recipes and the ones he’s thinking about bringing to his video series. She finds out he likes roasting different kinds of meat and vegetables and still hasn’t quite gotten the hang of roast beef but he keeps trying because it’s what his dad likes the most. He looks forward to summer because of all the produce, and winter because it’s when stews and soups are the best. And he loves trying new recipes even when they don’t work out. 

After a little while the pie is finished and she brings them both slices, curling next to him again. As they eat, and talk, and touch, it dawns on her that the way she feels about making food is the same way she feels when she’s with him, like they’re both speaking the same familiar language. And maybe it isn’t about whether affection comes before food, with them - maybe those things are one and the same. 

*

By the time June starts, Tessa has become familiar not only with the path from work to Scott’s apartment, but now knows the easiest way to get from her place to his and back again. She knows he’s started to figure out the same for her, too. 

She adores all the time she gets to spend with him and only wishes there were more of it. It’s not for lack of trying, at all, and they’ve certainly gotten to know each other well, both intellectually and physically. The last time he spent the evening at her place they’d kissed so enthusiastically for long enough that she’d completely missed the sound of the oven timer going off and they’d nearly lost the whole dinner. 

Tessa now knows the way his mouth feels when he kisses her on her cheek, and her neck, and on top of her breasts. If she closes her eyes she’s back on her couch with him two nights ago, her arms entwined around him, his mouth on her neck and one hand sliding into her underwear. She’d gasped for breath so fast and hard when she came. It had never been like that with James, or anyone else she’s been with - certainly never that quickly. 

What’s more, she has no good reason to account for why they still haven’t gone farther than that. She wants to, she _ more _ than wants to. But just as they’d started to find their footing with each other it seemed the rest of the world started conspiring to keep their schedules from matching. One week she’s kept uncharacteristically late filming in the test kitchen for three days in a row, trying to figure out Shreddies cereal, too exhausted at the end of it to contemplate anything but sleep. And once her video run ends his begins again, and he’s off on a filming excursion to work with a series of cheesemakers. Then his parents come for a visit, staying at his place for an extended weekend. 

Tessa does confess she enjoyed meeting his parents - Alma seemed quite keen on her, really, especially when she learned about her dancing and skating as a child, and Joe was very sweet in taking a second helping of the dessert Tessa had made. And the days when Scott’s been away filming, she’s been able to find more time to work on her book outline in the evenings. 

But she’s now also starting to wonder if they’re destined to stay in this loop forever, stealing kisses when they can and putting on their proper co-worker faces while in the test kitchen. For her part she’s not sure she’s doing very well keeping up platonic appearances - if she even was to begin with, anyway. She’s caught herself more than once just looking at him, watching his hands as he works or the way his eyes crinkle when he smiles or laughs, which is quite often. And then she remembers what else she’s felt those hands do, or the other times she’s heard that laugh, and— 

“Tess? Did you hear what I said?” 

Shae-Lynn’s there next to Tessa’s desk, she sees when she looks up. Tessa blinks and glances at her monitor and realizes she’s completely forgotten her train of thought of whatever she was working on. 

“Hm? Sorry, Shae, I must have...What is it?” 

“It’s a last-minute production meeting. Are you free now?” Shae-Lynn asks.

“Of course! I didn’t think we were doing another _Treats _ episode for a few weeks, though.” Tessa stands up, briefly glancing around the office floor. It’s been a normal Tuesday so far and Tessa’s been alternating between writing recipe notes for her book proposal and early research for her next _ Classic Bakes _ series which isn’t expected to film until August at the earliest.

“Oh, it’s not a _ Treats _ episode,” Shae-Lynn explains. She and Tessa walk down towards the meeting rooms. “It’s for _ Backcountry Cook _!” She seems so excited to report this that for a minute Tessa forgets that it’s not even the right show.

“But...no, that’s Scott’s show, why do you need me?” Tessa tries to remember if she’s overlooked some other planning meeting she should have been in. Surely her head can’t have been _ that _ far in the clouds.

“For the collaboration, remember? Marie said you were totally into the idea. A _ Backcountry Cook _ and _ Classic Bakes _ mashup?”

“_Oh_, that,” Tessa says, feeling a little dumb. They’d talked about it ages ago but hadn’t actually gotten as far as scheduling anything. “Wait, this isn’t for this week, is it?”

“Might be!” Shae-Lynn reports brightly. “If you can make it work I will definitely make it up to you with some extra time off next week, I told Scott the same thing. One of our ideal locations has an opening if we go in the next week, since we’re just barely in the window before peak tourist season hits. There’s cabins and outdoor cooking pits, it’s perfect.”

“Well, that sounds like a good stroke of luck,” Tessa nods, continuing to follow along. It sounds a lot like the place Scott described about a month ago, when he’d returned from filming his first episode on location. 

A moment later they reach the meeting room, where Marie-France, Alex, Maia, and Scott are all already waiting. Tessa smiles at Scott and then takes the empty chair next to him, nodding to the others in greeting. They spend the next half an hour planning a filming itinerary and confirming recipes, and all the while Scott’s expression looks the same combination of excited and bewildered that she’s feeling just now. By the end of the meeting, they have a plan, and just one evening to pack up.

And that’s how Tessa ends up driving off into the countryside the next morning, with her duffel bag, a box of baking equipment, and a cooler full of ingredients packed away in the back of Scott’s truck next to a similar set of his belongings. He drives, and she navigates. When they’re out of the city and it’s just long stretches of road, he holds her hand as long as he can.

*

“Hey guys, it’s me, Scott, and today on _ Backcountry Cook _ I’m joined by a very special guest!” He holds out his hands to gesture to Tessa, allowing a moment for Alex to pan the shot out to include both of them. 

Tessa waves for the camera. “Hi everyone!”

“We figured it was about time for a collaboration episode, eh?” Scott stands closer to Tessa, enthusiasm radiating out of him. 

“It was,” she agrees. “I think we need to combine forces and give everyone a great meal for outdoor cooking this summer.” It’s a little cloudy today, which turns out to be a perfect lighting set-up for the camera crew, and not too warm either, despite it being the middle of June. They’re both wearing flannel checked shirts, something Tessa had laughed about for a good minute at the beginning of the day. She has the feeling Scott is wearing his a little less ironically than she is, but it feels right for the shoot nevertheless. “So, Scott, what have you got for us to work on for our main course?”

“Ah, glad you asked, Virtch,” he says. She smiles at his use of the nickname on camera, like she always does. “Today we’re doing the ultimate weekend comfort food, Sloppy Joes!”

Tessa laughs again. “Would you believe it’s been years since I’ve had these? I can’t wait to try your version.”

“See, that’s why we needed to do this episode, T, you might have gotten too accustomed to the refined continental ways.”

“It’s true, there’s not a lot of Sloppy Joes in Paris,” she admits. “What should we do first?”

They step over to the picnic bench the crew has modified with a more level tabletop and arranged with several cutting boards and prep bowls. It’s a few metres away from the cooking fire which has already been set up with a grill above the now-hot coals. Alex films them chopping up onions, peppers, and measuring seasoning. It’s early afternoon and the light is still bright but not overly so, and by the time everything is finished cooking it will furnish them with a hearty late lunch. 

“So, Virtch, I gotta know, what are your opinions on fresh tomatoes versus canned?” He asks her this even as he’s opening the can of tomatoes he’s about to use in the recipe. 

“_Oh_, diving right into the controversial questions, huh?” She shakes her head, grinning back at him. He’s baiting her and she knows it, and the way he’s smiling and winking at her makes her want to do things to wipe the smug expression right off of his face. Things she very much should not do while they’re in front of a camera crew. “Well, I think all you have to do is take one look at our setting to glean the answer to that. If I’m camping, for me it’s mostly about getting the best tasting recipe I can with ingredients that I know will keep for a day or two in my cooler or in the trunk of my car,” she says. “Plus, sometimes canned tomatoes really are better, and this is one of those times.”

He’s nodding along, still smiling as he finishes getting the tin open. “I couldn’t have said it better myself,” Scott says. “And I mean that literally,” he tells the camera, affecting a more serious tone of voice, which just makes her laugh more.

Next they step over to the campfire and set up dutch oven to heat up on the grill with a little bit of oil. Tessa watches as Scott adds the onions and then the other vegetables to the pot and gives it a bit of a stir. She dusts her hands and waits for him to get to the next step, and there’s a moment where they’re just standing together, silently watching the fire, listening to the sizzling noises. It’s when Maia prompts them about the next step that they both laugh.

Scott nudges her. “Total camping moment, right? When you just end up staring at the fire?”

“Exactly,” she agrees. “We’re just keeping it authentic for you guys, dull moments and all,” she adds for the camera. Tessa will bet even money that they’ll leave a good few seconds of that footage in the final edit, too, at least if Alex and Maia are involved. She has a better sense of their editing style now that she’s spent six months working with them. But it’s usually Jean-Luc and Zach who work with Scott and they’re busy preparing Kaitlyn’s series this week, so Alex and Maia won out on the last minute camping trip. They don’t seem to mind it, either, Tessa thinks. 

Tessa helps Scott add the rest of the ingredients and he gets everything simmering pretty well. There’s a brief diversion while Scott stokes the fire some more and talks about how to properly prepare the fire and monitor it make sure the heat level stays consistent for cooking - especially when starting with ground beef. Tessa knows she’s got a smile on her face as she watches him work, and talk.

As they let the Sloppy Joe mixture stew away, it’s over to Tessa next to make her dessert. True to form she’s chosen something with pastry - a galette done in the cast iron skillet. 

“Alright everyone, for dessert we’re going to make a berry galette,” she explains to the camera once they’re back at the table. She’s reset the _ mise-en-place _ with all of her ingredients and a wooden cutting board. “Now, if you’ve never made a pie before, a galette is a really great place to start because they’re meant to be rustic! You don’t even need a pie plate or worry about making it look perfect or anything like that, and you can make it with so many kinds of filling.”

“I’ve never met a galette I didn’t like,” Scott adds gently from the side, watching her work and awaiting her instructions. 

“Neither have I,” Tessa answers. Not for nearly the first time she thinks to herself how great it is to work with him like this. He transitions so seamlessly between lead role and supporting role depending on what they’re filming in the moment, and he lets her do the same. As she measures out the pastry ingredients he’s there ready to help her if she needs it, or just offer supportive comments as usual.

“I know shortcrust pastry can seem a little daunting sometimes, but honestly this is the simplest possible pastry to start with. It’s so quick to make and you can make it sweet or savoury. Ours just has five ingredients - flour, butter, salt, egg, and water,” Tessa tells the camera. Then she sets about mixing the dry ingredients with the cold butter. “I like to work the butter in with my hands, but if you want to you can use a pastry blender,” she says, and sure enough Scott reaches for the tool and hands it to her. 

“I’m familiar with those,” he says. “Gadgets like that were one of the only ways mom could get us to help her in the kitchen,” he adds, a nostalgic tone in his voice. 

Tessa laughs. “I love that. Well, just for your mom I’m going to finish it up using this,” she says with a glance at the camera. She keeps mixing and gets the dough to a nice pea-sized texture. Then she gradually adds the water, continues mixing it up with a fork and then finishes it up with her hands. “We’re going to let this sit and chill for at least a half an hour,” she says as she wraps it up in plastic wrap, and hands it just off screen to Maia’s waiting hands. But then Maia hands over one of her already prepared discs of pastry dough that Tessa had made up during their on-site prep the day before. “But! Admittedly this is something you can prepare in advance by making the dough ahead, and then just rolling it out when you need it. So that’s what we’re going to do now,” she says. 

Tessa spends the next few minutes rolling out the dough, then mixes up the fruit with some sugar and cornstarch, and before she knows it she’s folding everything up inside the cast-iron skillet. “Voila!” she says with a flourish, and a smile for the camera. Scott takes the liberty of holding up the skillet in between them, his grin just as endearing as hers. “It really is that easy, guys. And now we can bring it over to the grill and let it sit next to our dinner, just a little bit farther from the hottest part of the fire so we don’t cook it too quickly. If you want to you can put a lid on the skillet to mimic the dutch oven and get an even bake on it, so I think that’s exactly what we’ll do next.” She lets Scott bring the cast-iron pan over to the fire, and she sets a heavy lid on top of it once it’s in place. 

“Now all we have to do is wait to eat it all,” he says, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. 

Tessa uses a potholder to lift the lid on the dutch oven and gives it a stir with the spoon in her other hand, then straightens up and dusts off her hands, too. She returns to standing next to him just like they had been before, two companions next to the fire. 

“Yeah,” she says, feeling like there are so many other things she’d like to say, if only they were alone right now and not in front of thousands of viewers. “We just need to wait a little longer.” She looks at him and sees the relaxed expression on his face; the way his eyes crinkle a little when he turns to look back at her and smiles. And she definitely notices the way his eyes darken just a little when his gaze lingers on her face, her lips. 

“It’ll be worth the wait, though,” he offers, clearing his throat and broadening his smile just as he’s done all day so far for the camera. “I have a good feeling about it.”

“Me too,” Tessa agrees, and lets herself lean her shoulder just a little bit closer to his.

*

They finish the afternoon by filming the two of them roasting s’mores, with homemade graham crackers Tessa had prepped the day before after they’d first arrived. After they get enough footage to call the day a wrap, Scott makes Alex and Maia some s’mores, too, and after that it’s an easy transition towards dinner. 

They gather in Scott’s cabin, since his has the largest common space despite being only a single-bedroom cabin. He’s brought all the supplies for pizza and works up the dough easily with Tessa’s help, then Maia makes a salad, and Tessa’s galette from earlier is their dessert. Tessa and Alex both bring out bottles of wine, and a few decks of cards appear from somewhere. If Scott shows Tessa any special attention during the games, or lets his hand linger on her shoulder for any longer than necessary, Alex and Maia either don’t seem to notice or just choose not to say anything. By the time it’s past dark everyone is extremely relaxed and happy to be winding down. 

Eventually they say goodnight, and although Tessa insists on helping Scott clean up he won’t hear of it. But she does allow her hand to linger in his a little longer, and sneaks a quick kiss when Alex and Maia have stepped out. When she returns to her shared cabin with Maia the younger woman makes a few pointed comments about what a great job she and Scott both did together that day, and how nice he is, and how he and Tessa are just getting along _ so well _ these days. The evening has left Tessa feeling comfortable and happy enough that she can’t help smiling, and it’s no good trying to pretend she doesn’t know what Maia is talking about. So she just agrees with her, and the squeal Maia lets out when Tessa tells her that he’s also a very good kisser makes Tessa laugh too. 

That night she crawls into bed feeling the most relaxed she has in weeks, buoyed by the wine and good meal and good company of the evening. She thinks of Scott and wonders if he’s gotten similar roasting from Alex, or Andrew back at the office, or anyone else for that matter. She wonders if this is all just a lot less complicated than she’s been making it. And for a moment she lets herself think about what it would be like to walk back over to Scott’s cabin and knock on his door, and have him take her back to his bedroom. 

That’s the last thing she thinks about as she falls asleep. 

*

The next day is their second and last full day of filming. This time they set up indoors, once again returning to Scott’s cabin to make use of the ample space. Instead of a repeat of campfire recipes they’ll do a cottage meal instead, relying on the full kitchen amenities of the oven, stove, and the simple appliances.

Tessa thinks back to when Scott had described these cabins as rustic and thinks that’s not entirely true - they’re winterized, and charmingly decorated, but just haven’t been indulgently modernized into secondary mansions the way so many cottages have more recently. It’s a visual aesthetic that translates well for filming, too, conveying simplicity and purpose but not extravagance, and she thinks all of it suits Scott very well. 

It’s a longer day than the first one because of the need to fit in three recipes instead of just two: First Tessa demonstrates the home-made graham cracker recipe that they’d used for s’mores over the fire the previous afternoon. Next, she makes a cherry upside-down cake, which they film before Scott’s entree so they can allow time for it to cool properly by the afternoon. And then finally, Scott cooks a pork roast, complete with roasted seasonal vegetables and potatoes to round out the meal.

As Scott films his segment Tessa mostly stands nearby and enjoys watching him work. She knows this is the type of meal he likes cooking the most, but she’s never actually watched him make it before. It would be easy for him to feel nervous about it, especially since they’re in front of a camera and there are a lot of ways a roast could go wrong. But he seems very at ease about it, especially as he turns his narration to Tessa more and more instead of to the camera. It’s almost like they’re in his kitchen back in the city, and he’s preparing a meal for her like he’s done several times before. 

Maia suggests they round out the segment by properly sitting down to eat, which both Tessa and Scott are happy to go along with. It’s a natural next step, really. Scott slices into the roast with great fanfare, and she does the same for the cake, admiring the nice even bake and the layer of fruit on top. Scott fixes up their plates of food and brings them over to the little dining table, Tessa pours them each a glass of wine. They toast each other and then dig in. Tessa needs no further prodding to compliment Scott’s work - the roast really is perfect, enviably so given how finicky pork can be. She offers comments about how her roasts never turn out this good, and when they try the cake it’s Scott’s turn to give similar observations about her work, both of them chatting and laughing easily. Scott’s almost entirely finished his piece of cake by the time Maia calls it a wrap. 

“All right you two, it’s time you guys finally got some of this food,” Tessa says, now that the camera’s stopped rolling and they can go back to being a team of four again. “Get in here, Maia, I saw you eyeing this the whole time,” she says as she pushes her own piece of cake towards her.

“Oh man, _ yes _,” Maia agrees, needing no further invitation to join them. She takes the chair next to Tessa and reaches for the plate. “No offense, Scott, your work is amazing too,” she tells him, her mouth now half-filled with a bite of cake.

Scott shrugs it off. “No offense taken,” he replies easily. “There’s a reason I only half-touched my roast; I mostly wanted to get to that cake.”

Tessa laughs and shakes her head. “At least Alex has some sense,” she says, observing the younger man loading up his plate at the counter. “There _ are _ other important food groups besides sugar.”

“Hey, there’s totally fruit in here,” Maia points out, gesturing with her fork. “This would be a great breakfast dessert,” she says over another bite.

“Ooh, breakfast dessert,” Scott says, his eyes lighting up. He nudges Tessa’s arm. “Is that a thing, Tess? Desserts you can have for breakfast, I like it.”

“Sounds like the next series to me,” Alex says. He sits down and joins them at the table with his full plate and digs right in. 

“I’ll add it to the list,” Tessa says, humoring them wearily. “It can be a chapter in my book, if I _ ever _ get it written,” she adds with a sigh.

Scott looks back at her with interest. “Are you back at it, T? I was wondering about that.”

“I’m getting there.” She turns to look back at him, too, realizing there are a few conversations she’s behind in updating him on. “I’ve been fleshing out my outline and putting together some recipe notes. Kaitlyn keeps encouraging me, she even told me about some culinary writing fellowships I should apply for.” Tessa shrugs. “I never even knew _ those _ were a thing,” she adds. She takes a sip of her wine, thinking. 

“That’s really great, T.” Scott agrees, nodding in gentle encouragement. “It’s what you should be working on. I mean, not that we want you to abandon the videos or anything,” he says quickly, glancing at Alex and Maia. It feels like he wants to really talk about it with her, find out where she wants to take it. 

“You’ll have time in the summer,” Alex says as he continues to eat, oblivious to any other tone shift in the room. “July’s probably going to be a filming break anyway, too many people are away on vacation.”

Maia nods, looking from her brother back over to Tessa. “Are you going anywhere on vacation this summer, Tess?”

“Maybe,” she says, thinking. She realizes then she hasn’t made any plans yet, and feels more than a little dumb for not having thought that far already. Last summer she’d still been in France, and hadn’t taken much time away from her dissertation. “I should probably head back to Ontario for a visit, I haven’t seen my family properly since the Christmas holidays.”

Scott answers with a similar reflection about how long it’s been since he was back in Ontario, and how he’s looking forward to seeing his grandfather at home this summer, as well as his parents. Alex and Maia make similar conversation about their plans. Tessa finds her thoughts suddenly drifting in so many different directions, then, realizing how quickly the last six months have gone by. She’s been so absorbed in work, and all these video series, and now letting herself get wrapped up in this...relationship with Scott, that she’s let so many other relationships fall to the side. She holds her wine glass with both hands, thinking to herself.

“Hey,” Scott says after a moment, his voice gentle as he leans towards her. “You okay?” He lets one hand rest on her knee, squeezing a little.

Tessa nods quickly, and then lets her hand rest on top of his. “Yeah. Just...thinking,” she says. She lets out a breath. Right now she’s here in this cozy cabin with people she likes, and she reminds herself to stay in the present moment a little longer.

“I know the feeling,” he says. He offers a reassuring smile, and squeezes her hand once before straightening in his seat again. 

Tessa notices Maia get up to use her phone. When the young woman returns it’s with a purposeful look on her face.

“What’s up?” Tessa asks. She sets down her glass, wondering if they need to spring into action to take care of something. Scott does the same thing, pushing his plate forward and folding his napkin aside.

“It looks like me and Alex are gonna have to pack up and head back early,” she tells them.

“But we’re not due back til tomorrow,” Alex says. They’d booked the cabins until Saturday in case they needed to re-shoot anything or grab B-roll footage. 

“I know, but something’s busted with Zach’s camera and they might not get it fixed by tomorrow, and they’re all set to film Kaitlyn’s brunch restaurant stuff in the morning,” Maia explains. 

“_Oh_,” Tessa reacts. She remembers Kaitlyn mentioning that, about how long it had taken them to schedule the kitchen interviews. And then she looks at her watch, realizing that it’s already late afternoon and if they’re going to try to hand over video equipment tonight then it really is now or never. “We can help,” she says, standing at the same time as Scott does.

“Should we all head out?” Scott looks at his watch too, and then around at the cooking and baking detritus left in the kitchen. 

Maia shakes her head decisively. “It’ll take us two minutes to get the gear packed up and Alex and I will get back tonight. You guys can head back whenever you want.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Tessa says. “Do what you need to do; we’ll worry about the clean-up and everything else.”

There’s a brisk flurry of activity then as Alex packs up all of the video equipment with Scott’s assistance, and Tessa goes with Maia to help collect her belongings from their cabin. Maia quickly packs up her suitcase while Tessa sweeps through the rest of the space for anything else she needs. As she does so Maia reminds her of all the check-out instructions for the next day and where to bring the keys.

“We’re booked through until four p.m. tomorrow, so don’t rush to pack up if you feel like it,” Maia says. She’s got her duffel zipped up and Tessa follows her, carrying out the rest in a tote bag. 

“We’ll that’s very generous. I think we’ll just play it by ear, though,” Tessa allows. They reach the cars and Maia unlocks her and Alex’s SUV. “You know,” she says, helping Maia place everything in the trunk. “One could speculate on how convenient all of this timing is, allowing me and Scott an evening on our own,” she says, arching one eyebrow and recalling Maia’s conversation the last couple of days. 

“Listen, even I cannot control video equipment malfunctions,” Maia says. “And would you rather help Kaitlyn reschedule a bunch of downtown brunch restaurants on a weekend? I think not.” 

Tessa snorts out a half-laugh, shaking her head. “Well that’s hard to argue with,” she admits. 

“Still, you and Scott _ do _ have a whole evening to yourself,” Maia says brightly. “And if you don’t make the most of it, then…”

“Oooh, then what?” Tessa counters.

“Then I’m going to _ conveniently _ ‘lose’ all of the footage from this week and make you all come up here again. I can do it too, I’m very convincing.” Maia lifts her eyebrows up and down.

“Well, I make no promises,” Tessa answers, still chuckling. “But thank you, this...this isn’t the worst situation ever, I must admit.”

Alex and Scott join them then, having managed to wrangle all the equipment as well as Alex’s belongings. They’re chatting and laughing too, and Tessa wonders if Scott’s been on the receiving end of similar encouragement. 

A few moments later she’s standing next to Scott, waving and watching as Alex and Maia drive off. Maia waves back at them from the passenger seat until they get to the end of the lane and turn the corner, and then they’re out of sight. The light has gotten warmer now that it’s the end of the afternoon, and from their little pocket of the camp all they can see is their cabins, and trees, and a few clouds clustering along the horizon of a brilliant blue sky. 

“Why do I feel suspiciously like we’ve just been _ Parent-Trap-_ped,” Scott says after a beat. 

“Maybe because that’s exactly what just happened?” Tessa says, not really asking. And even if that’s true she’s decided she officially doesn’t care. 

She turns to look at him about half a second before he turns to her, and immediately closes her mouth over his. He responds almost instantly, wrapping his arms around her waist. It’s a long minute of them just kissing each other, over and over, and then his hands drift lower, grasping at her hips and then around her bottom. She fixes her hands on his shoulders and jumps up a little, wrapping her legs fully around his waist as he holds her to him, still kissing her just as enthusiastically. 

He’s the one who breaks the kiss first, albeit reluctantly. As Tessa unwraps her legs from around Scott’s waist, she realizes she’s feeling a little less steady on her feet now, and just leans against him. She rests her forehead on top of his, breathing in the same air as he is, just as heavily.

“Inside?” He asks, finding his words again.

“Inside,” she answers with a quick nod. 

He grasps one of her hands in his, and then they’re practically running back towards his cabin, no other cares in the world but each other. 

* 

As soon as they get inside the cabin he has her pressed - extremely willingly - against the door. His hands leave hers and roam instead along her waist and hips, squeezing a little as they move. It’s like he’s trying to commit every second of this to memory using all of his senses, touching her and kissing her and breathing her in. She does the same, kissing him back and letting her eyes roll closed as she brings him closer and wraps her arms around his shoulders. 

Eventually she opens her eyes, dazedly remembering where they are. Her eyes light on the kitchen and the remnants of all their cooking and baking. She lets out a groan and leans her head back again. 

“Mmm,” he murmurs in response, kissing her lips again, and then both of her cheeks.

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” she says, in between kisses. “Because this is really, really good right now…” She can feel his lips curving into a smile against her skin. “But how fast do you think we can clean up the kitchen? I mean, before...before we…” Her voice trails off as he kisses the edge of her jaw, and then her neck. Part of her is regretting even mentioning it, but she knows as well as he does they’ll both regret it later if they don’t at least put away the food. 

“The…” he glances up at her, looking almost as dazed as she feels. Then he turns to follow her glance behind him, realizing what she means. “Later,” he says. 

“Scott,” Tessa breathes out, tipping her head back briefly and then bringing her hands up to his shoulders, grasping at his collar. She’s practically whimpering now, but she can’t bring herself to care about that. “Your beautiful dinner, I don’t want to ruin it. Besides, we might...need some more sustenance, later,” she adds. She sees his eyebrows lift a little and knows she’s won him over then. 

He kisses her once more, very soundly, and then straightens again. “Okay,” he says reluctantly, catching his breath too. “Here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to go wash as many dishes as I can, while you wrap up all of the food. We are going to do all of this in record time,” he says, his voice betraying a great deal of focus.

“Yes,” she nods quickly.

“And then,” Scott says, “I’d very much like us to take all our clothes off and have sex.”

She smiles broadly, feeling herself flush all over. “Yes,” she repeats. “Yes, _ please_.” There’s something extremely sexy about him saying it out loud so explicitly, despite the fact that they are already clearly on the same page. 

They kiss once more and then take a collective breath, and he lets her go only once they’re actually in the kitchen. He starts piling plates into the sink and fills it with soapy water, while she fumbles around looking for aluminum foil or cling wrap or literally anything to put away all of the food. Scott scrubs briskly at the dishes, half-watching her the entire time, and she pays him the favour of winking back. 

He works fast. So fast that by the time he’s leaving the roasting pan to soak in the sudsy water and giving the counter a final wipe down, she’s only just finishing up her own tasks. He waits, with obvious patience, while she brings over the cake from the table, places it onto a new, clean plate, and over-turns a glass mixing bowl over top of it in a sort of makeshift cake stand. Then as soon as she wipes her hands on a dishtowel and turns to Scott, he has her in his arms even faster than before. 

*

Scott’s still carrying her in his arms when they get to the bedroom, and Tessa’s practically giggling when he all but tosses her on the bed. Then he throws himself down next to her and she laughs outright, enjoying how much he’s enjoying this. Then his hands are slipping under her clothes and his lips are on hers, and her laughter stills. 

It’s replaced by the feeling of so much fulfillment, after weeks of wanting him. Yes, she knows what it feels like to be kissed by him, to feel the way his lips move when he smiles against her skin and kisses her cheeks, her neck, her breasts. But now there’s no more waiting, no more wondering, about all of the rest of it - what it’s like to undress him, and be undressed by him; to feel the hard length of him, ready as she slides one thigh between his legs and surges against him; to feel his fingers slip between her legs and then the sensation of his mouth taking their place, leaving her gasping as she unravels and then explodes under his touch.

“So that’s what you taste like,” he breathes out just before kissing her again. It should be ridiculous, even comical, but there’s no laughter on her lips as she sinks back against the pillows, sliding her tongue against his. Fleetingly Tessa thinks to herself that she’d like to return the favour, but she can tell he has other ideas, and quite frankly so does she. They kiss each other deeply, over and over, as she cradles him between her legs. One of his hands slides around her hip and down her thigh, squeezing and kneading just enough to make her whimper. He presses closer and she feels a quivering rush of heat move through her. She slides one foot along the back of his leg, until she’s pressing her heel into his ass and urging him forward. 

Scott breaks their kissing long enough to lean over and reach into his kit on the bedside table, fishing out a condom. She sighs in relief and gratitude. If she’d had to run back to her own cabin for the box she’d brought with her she doesn’t know if she’d have been able to do it fully clothed.

A moment later, when he sinks into her, at first it’s deliciously slow. She shifts her thighs wider, taking him in until he’s thrusting forward the last of the way and she moans, just as he does. He stills, then, mouthing at the curve of her neck where it reaches her shoulder and waiting for a nod from her. 

His breath is warm on her skin as she just holds him for a minute, feeling so stretched and full. She drops gentle kisses on his temple, then bends her leg just slightly more, pressing and encouraging him to move. And then he is moving, slowly at first, just like a moment before, letting her set the rhythm. 

It’s good, it’s _ so_, so good that part of her wants to try making it go on forever, to try feeling this way as long as she possibly can. But then she keeps moving against him, meeting each thrust until all she can do is move faster, and then faster still, urging him onward. She’s aware of his hand sliding between them to where they’re joined and then it almost takes her by surprise when her orgasm comes over her. He’s moaning along with her and then she feels more than hears the scream leave her throat, as he thrusts against her and her body tightens around him. 

When he collapses against her a moment later she’s almost come back to herself. As she waits for him to do the same, she slides one hand through his hair, cradling the back of his head. Their bodies are still slick against each other. She can feel his pulse starting to level out again, his heartbeat steady right next to hers.

His arm wraps around her waist once more and then he lifts his head, his expression momentarily hard to read. With gentle fingers she brushes at the hair falling across his forehead, soothing him. And then the endearing, almost boyish smile that follows is nearly enough to make her light up all over again. He shifts, lifting one hand to touch her face and brush the hair out of her eyes, too. His thumb strokes along her the curve of her cheek and then her lips, as he breathes her in. 

“Good?” he asks, his voice almost a whisper. It’s a question, but also somehow an affirmation. As though he needs to know she’s in the same place as he is. Her heart reaches for him then, wishing she could say just exactly how amazing she feels right now. The way she’s felt all day, all week, the whole last few months. 

She lifts forward to kiss him softly, and then again. “Very good,” she breathes out, feeling more content than she has in a very long time. 

*


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tessa navigates her new relationship with Scott, inside and outside the kitchen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, what can I say except that I didn't predict it would be this long before getting to the next chapter! I hope the long wait can be forgiven by the fact that there will now also be one more chapter after this, because it turns out that's just how many more chapters there were. 
> 
> Thank you once again to my amazing beta-readers, iwantthemtostay, bucketofrice, and D, for being so wonderful. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this installment! Happy New Year!
> 
> (If you're enjoying this please let me know in the comments! Or on Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/carmen-sandiego-fic  
Thanks!)

Tessa truly does mean it when she tells Scott she’ll be fine with him dropping her off at her own place and seeing him the next day. She means it the whole time they pack up their belongings and close up the cabin, and the whole drive back that afternoon as the almost-summer sunshine starts to drift lower and lower towards the horizon. She means it right up until they’re about five minutes away from her neighbourhood. And then she thinks (again, and again) about the last twenty-four hours and the number of times the two of them managed to fall into bed together already (it’s three, although one of those times was technically in the shower, not the bed), and then she just rests her hand on his knee, squeezing a little. And then again, more firmly.

He stiffens a little under her touch, and she glances back at him immediately. But it’s not discomfort on his expression, not exactly. His cheeks are a little pink, and he clears his throat, straightening in his seat. 

“I changed my mind,” she says, her voice low. She shakes her head. “I don’t want to go back to my place.”

“Oh thank God,” Scott breathes out, like he’s been wondering how to make the invitation first. He hardly blinks, just immediately changes lanes to make a different turn, and three minutes later they’re pulling up to his address.

They unpack the truck as quickly as they can, dropping their bags in the living room and stowing the food leftovers in the refrigerator. 

“I have some wine in the fridge,” Scott offers, standing with her in his kitchen. His cheeks are still a little flushed, and it makes her smile. “Or beer. Or soda water,” he continues. “Or a snack? Or maybe some dinner. I heard someone made a mean pork roast the other night.”

“Mmm,” Tessa murmurs, coming to rest her hands at his waist. He reciprocates, bringing his arms around her shoulders, letting her lean closer to him. “Too bad the cake all got eaten, though,” she adds. Unconsciously she licks her lips, remembering it. They’d finished most of it last night, a sort of post-coital midnight snack. The rest hadn’t lasted past breakfast this morning. 

“True. Don’t know where we’ll find more, I’ll have to ask around.” Scott nods, his eyebrows lifting a little. “You know any awesome bakers like that, Virtch?” His face leans in towards hers. 

She smirks a little. “There’s this one,” she answers. “But I think she’s going to be a little busy for the next few hours.”

“Hours?”

“Mmm hmm. Maybe even days.”

“Well. I hope she makes the most of her time, then,” he says, and then leans in all the way, pressing his lips against hers. 

She kisses him back, still having a hard time wiping the smile off of her face as she does. Of all the ways she’d hoped this week would end, she’d never thought it would be like this. But she wouldn’t change a thing about it. 

“I’m pretty sure she will,” Tessa answers, kissing him again. Another minute later and he’s picking her up, and she’s wrapping her legs around his waist. A laugh escapes her as he continues his kisses along her chin and then her neck, nibbling a little with his teeth.

“I’ll promise her that,” Scott tells her, his voice low and eager. 

And then he’s walking them over to his bedroom, where she’s going to make sure he keeps his word.

*

“I can’t believe I’m finally sleeping with another chef, and so far all I’ve eaten with you in the last two days is leftovers. Well, and scrambled eggs,” Tessa says the next morning, waiting happily as Scott prepares some simple plates for their late breakfast. She sits perched at the kitchen island, both hands wrapped around a mug of coffee. It’s not a bad view, either, she thinks, watching him work. It’s becoming a familiar sight and one she enjoys more and more each time. And not just because of how good his backside looks, even in sweatpants. 

“Scrambled eggs _ and _ toast,” he corrects her, finishing up and coming over to serve them their plates. And to his credit, the eggs are perfect — fluffy and buttery and probably the best breakfast she’s had in weeks. “Tomorrow, I’ll make us Eggs Neptune. We’ll just need to get out and forage for some supplies at some point.” He pulls up a stool and joins her at the island. “Or, I can run out and you can relax some more if you want,” he adds, kissing her quickly.

“Oh, I’m so glad it’s the weekend,” Tessa muses out loud as she takes up her fork. “The cabin escapade was lots of fun,” she says, winking at Scott as he grins back at her. “But I could use a few days of not cooking or baking anything in front of the camera.”

“Tell me about it.” He settles in close next to her, letting his free hand come to rest on her leg. She smiles, and rests her hand on top of his, lacing fingers with him as they start to eat. 

It’s nice, more than nice. It’s becoming more and more familiar, spending time with him at home like this. Tessa thinks she could get used to it. In fact she might already _ be _ used to it, it occurs to her. She just leans into that feeling, enjoying and not overthinking it. And anyway, the simple breakfast is amazing. “Mm, good.” She lets out a contented sigh. 

“Good,” Scott answers, starting to eat, too. 

“I like this,” she says after a moment, her smile returning. 

“I know, T, you said,” he tells her, laughing a little. “And anyway, it’s just eggs, anyone could do it.”

Tessa laughs too. “I didn’t just mean the eggs, Scott. I mean, it’s nice like this. Waking up with you, cooking with you, spending the week with you.” She shrugs. “Now I feel like it’s going to be weird going back to work and going back to making candies and all that stuff by myself.”

“We only filmed for two days, T, I think we can manage it,” he says, taking a sip of coffee. “But I know what you mean. And hey, I thought you just said you were glad not to think about work,” he adds, nudging her.

“I _ am_,” she insists. “I guess I just can’t help it. Do you ever find yourself thinking about the next shows, the next recipes and everything, without even realizing you’re doing it?” She shakes her head. “I think it’s sunk into my subconscious now.”

“You might be right about that,” he nods. “I think my mental catalog of outdoor cooking methods has tripled since I started here.” 

She snorts. “Tell me about it. I never realized I would get so much practice at tempering chocolate.”

“_Hah_, yeah. Or salty commercial snacks. Have you looked at Goldfish the same way since a couple of months ago?” He nudges her, teasing a little bit now. “Honestly I think you should have dialed that up a little more, marketed your recipe afterwards.”

She swats him back. “Oh my _ God _, those stupid little crackers were my nemesis.” When she thinks back to that week it still feels like a blur of frustration. 

Scott finishes the last bite of his eggs and toast and then pushes his plate aside. “I remember. I know I wasn’t there for most of that but I remember hearing about it after,” he nods, like he’s thinking back and remembering, a little smile on his face. She knows he watched the video afterwards; she remembers him talking to her about it. 

“And then I got so much flak afterwards because it wasn’t a Canadian snack,” Tessa recalls, too, her spirits sinking a little. “But tell that to all the little five-year-olds at home, I dare you. Those things are a household snack just as much as Coffee Crisps. Maybe even more so.”

“Oh, I’m with you. My little nieces wouldn’t survive without them. My brothers, either, for that matter.” He looks around the kitchen, suddenly, like he’s looking for something. 

“What is it?”

“Nothing, I just think I might have some of those crackers stashed somewhere around here. You should reconnect with both your struggles and your successes, Virtch, it’s important to stay grounded,” he tells her, a smirk coming over his expression. 

Just for that, she swats him again. “I can’t believe I’m being treated like this. On my hard-earned time off, too.” But she’s blushing, and can’t help smiling a little. 

“Just keeping you honest,” he says, leaning close to her again. “When you’re rich and famous you’ll appreciate these times even more.” 

“Mmm, I can appreciate these times right now, thank you very much,” she tells him, leaning in the rest of the way and kissing him. 

He kisses her back, then a second and third time more quickly. “I’ll make it up to you with more coffee, how does that sound?”

“Completely wonderful,” she sighs. “You’re forgiven.”

He makes an exaggerated movement of wiping nonexistent sweat off of his brow and then scurries over to the coffee maker, refilling both of their mugs. When he returns with them he kisses her again, before taking his place next to her just like before. 

She enjoys enjoying her food as she finishes it, just the careful simplicity of the breakfast he made for them. It’s quiet for a moment while she eats and he lets her lean next to him. 

It’s him who speaks first, a little softly, as though he’s lost in thought. “You’re right, though. This year has been a pretty good ride so far, that’s for sure. Crazy sometimes, but I wouldn’t trade it.” He sips his coffee and then holds the mug close with both hands then, suddenly pensive. 

Tessa waits for a moment but he doesn’t say anything else just yet. It’s her turn now to push away her empty plate. “What are you thinking about?” 

“This year,” he says, still thoughtful but not uncertain. “All the work. I don’t know that I imagined doing half of the things I’ve done since I got here. And I know I never imagined I’d meet you,” he says, turning to look at her. His eyes are so warm. It’s like she can glimpse the younger version of him, just then, like he’s realizing the weight of reaching out on his own for the first time.

She brushes her fingers through his hair, lifting it off of his forehead, and then again just enjoying the touch. His eyes close briefly, as though soothed by the motion. “It’s been a big year for me too, so far,” she tells him, her soft tone mirroring his. Truthfully, when she thinks about it, she’s not sure what’s been most surprising — the unpredicted success of her video series, or meeting him.

“I know this...this is still new for us,” Scott tells her, his voice slightly cautious but still so hopeful. He lifts his hand to grasp hers in his, and rests both of them, clasped together, at his knee. “But is it weird that it doesn’t feel that new for me?” He pauses, like he’s not sure he’s expressing himself well. “I just mean...”

“You don’t need to explain it, Scott. It’s how I feel, too.” When she thinks that it was only a little over a month ago they were kissing for the first time, and only a few months before that they had just met as coworkers...it doesn’t seem to make sense in her head. It feels both too short and too long at the same time. “I’m so happy I met you,” she says simply, because simple truths seem the most important things to express right now. She shakes her head again. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

“Me either,” he answers right away. “Not for anything.” And with that, he kisses her, as though he hasn’t already done that dozens of times since dawn this morning.

“I should have known. I should have known that first day I met you back in February,” Tessa says, shaking her head a little. “I can’t believe it took me so long to realize,” she adds, her words starting to trail off as she tries to come up with the rest of that sentence and can’t decide. _ To realize how amazing you are. To realize you were going to be more than a colleague. To realize how much you mean to me. _ She shakes her head again, blushing a little just remembering how she’d started that first conversation by almost running into him. “I almost knocked you down and you didn’t even mind,” she remembers out loud. “And then you sat with me and listened while I talked your ear off about puff pastry.”

“That’s right, I did. And you’re right, I didn’t mind at all.” He smiles back at her, his gaze flickering across her face to her lips, then back again to meet her eyes. She wonders if he’s replaying it in his head. “And then you told me your dissertation title was...it was on the differential effects of temperature…” his words trail off like he’s trying to remember. But he keeps his gaze on her, as though he’ll discover the words there.

“The differential effects of temperature and humidity conditions on puff pastry lamination and bake time,” she finishes for him. 

“Yeah,” he nods, his smile diminishing as his expression shifts towards a different kind of adoration. One that has him pulling her even closer to him, so they’re almost flush against each other. She’s practically sitting in his lap. “That was the sexiest thing I’d ever heard,” he says, no hint of irony in his voice at all. 

She feels a rush of warmth move through her as he says it. There are so many things she wants to say, too, her mind is almost brimming with them. But instead she wraps her arms around him and kisses him again, and again. 

  
  


*

“Hi there everyone! I’m Tessa, I’m here in the _ J’ai Faim _ test kitchen, and today I’m making gourmet...Shreddies!”

On the small screen of Tessa’s phone she and Scott watch as Tessa gestures to the display of cereal boxes surrounding her on the counter. Then she starts opening boxes and tasting little handfuls of each one. Eventually Patrick joins Tessa on screen and they each try a small bowl with both milk and cereal, then there’s a little scene with Andrew and Kaitlyn both commenting on the modest number of flavour variations. 

Tessa props up the phone on the small table on Scott’s balcony, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder next to him. It’s Sunday, now, and it’s been almost forty-eight hours since they got back to Scott’s place, and besides a trip for groceries they’ve not left his apartment. It’s been the most decadent, lazy, wonderful weekend she’s spent in a very long time. 

Scott looks on at the video, laughing and asking more questions as the scenes play out on the little screen. He hadn’t been in the kitchen as much for the production on this one, and he regrets having missed it. The video had been posted while they were up at the cabin and this is Tessa’s first opportunity to see how it all turned out in the final cut. Not to mention take a glance at the comments section, where there was a lot of enthusiasm but also some comments over not seeing Scott in the mix. And she hadn’t made efforts to mention his absence during the filming, feeling self-conscious about what it might look like if she was paying special attention to him. In retrospect all of that seems silly, now.

“Trust me, the viewers would have loved you being on screen, they always miss you when you don’t make an appearance,” Tessa tells him fondly. She leans against him, one hand resting in the crook of his arm. 

“Ah, I doubt that, T. Look, there’s Andrew being all charming and handsome, and Kaetlyn’s smile just lights up the whole screen, she should really get her own series one of these days. And anyway, you’re the star of the show on these,” he answers, needlessly bashful.

“Of course I am,” she says with a grin, momentarily straightening up a little. “But our viewers tune in to our channel for the full cast of characters, not just me.” She brings her hand around to cup his cheek, bringing his face closer to hers and kissing his cheek. 

He smiles, his eyes closing briefly against the touch. “Well for the record, I love being in your supporting cast,” he tells her gently, which only endears him further to her. A stunning feat, given the last few days. She kisses his cheek again and they return to watching the rest of the video.

“That part must have been _ rough_,” Scott observes, as the Tessa on screen goes through several tries at getting a perforated waffle-like texture on the cereal squares.

“You’re telling me,” she snorts. “It’s all a blur, now. I remember thinking your workshop skills would have come in handy then, maybe you would have found me the right tool more quickly.”

“I’ll be there for the next one,” he reassures her. They keep watching for another few minutes and then he sits up a little, as though something new has occurred to him. 

“What is it?” she asks. 

“Tess...what do we tell people at work? I mean, do we...do we say anything?”

For a second she just blinks back at him. “Oh, well…”

He breathes out a half-laugh, squeezing one hand at her knee. “Tess, come on. You must have thought about this,” he guesses, completely right of course. 

Given how much she’d thought about their budding relationship over the last couple of months — over-thought, one might even say, it’s ridiculous that she doesn’t have an answer to this ready in her mind. 

“I guess I just liked the idea of keeping you to myself,” she admits out loud, blushing in spite of herself. “Like maybe we could get away without mentioning it for a little longer.”

Scott just smiles again. “That’s going to be impossible, you know that, right?”

“Well I don’t mean _ literally _ keeping you to myself,” she clarifies. “Even if we do get a couple of extra days.”

“I know, I know,” he answers. “But people are going to figure it out eventually, T. Hell, they might already be wondering about it as it is, we’re probably not as stealthy as we think.”

Her blush quickens again, as she thinks about some of their recent moments together in the office -- stealing away to entwine themselves together in empty break rooms when they didn’t think anyone was looking, or kissing behind closed elevator doors. “Maybe,” she allows. “But can we at least wait a little longer? Give it a week or two? We’ll tell people, just not yet.”

Scott lets out a sigh, clearly not entirely buying it but no less enamoured with her. “Alright, I’ll follow your lead. But I make no guarantees.” He looks back at the screen and nods his chin in that direction. “And even if we somehow avoid our co-workers figuring it out, I don’t know if I can guarantee _ they _ won’t, out there in viewer-land. I’ve never been one to keep my heart off my sleeve, you know.”

“I do know,” she says, feeling so much affection for him then. It’s true, and part of the reason she fell for him. 

When he looks back at her his smile has returned too. And with that, she lets him lean in to kiss her, this time. 

“So what are you going to make next?” he asks her a moment later, as they’re reclined again together and watching the last few minutes of her Shreddies escapade play out. 

“Hmm. What if I want to make whatever you want?” Tessa asks, an endearingly teasing tone in her voice. 

“What if I just want you to make whatever _ you _ want,” he answers, with the same tone of voice and an impossibly sweet expression on his face.

She elbows him. “Come on, for a guy with so many favourites you have to have some ideas.”

“Well,” he starts, thinking about it. “I still would love to see you try those Cherry Blossoms, they’re just too insane not to attempt. I mean, what are they, a cordial cherry? A candy bar?” He shrugs, gesturing with his almost-empty coffee mug in his hand. “No one knows, but they still keep making them. It’s crazy and brilliant.”

Tessa laughs. “Sure, why not, I’ll put those on the list. I haven’t had enough hard challenges lately. I don’t even know where I’d start with those things.”

Scott rattles off a couple of other suggestions for different candies and cookies. Then he pauses, letting out a sigh as though thinking some more. “But sometime you really need to do those maple cookies, though. I know they’re probably a little obvious,” he allows, and she knows he remembers her hesitation about making Coffee Crisp for that very reason. “But I bet yours would be so good.” 

She looks at his expression, so nostalgic all of a sudden as he keeps his gaze looking ahead at the video screen. She wonders what he’s thinking about, then. Or who. And then she remembers what she’d told him when they’d talked about those cookies before. “They remind you of your grandparents,” she recalls. He nods, fidgeting a little with his mug in both hands. “Oh, that’s so nice, Scott. I have memories like that too. I remember my grandma always had chocolate chip cookies for us when we visited,” she thinks fondly. She still misses her Nana, gone for several years now. 

“Yeah. They were the best. It’s just my grandpa now. He hasn’t...he’s had some ups and downs the last couple of years. It’ll be good to visit him when I’m back this summer.” 

Tessa can tell he’s missing him a lot, and thinking back to their conversations at the cottage she knows he’s been thinking about visiting home, too. She wonders how well his grandfather is really doing. For all his habit of wearing his heart on his sleeve Tessa guesses there are still some things Scott keeps close to his chest. 

She draws one hand down Scott’s arm and rests it on one of his hands. He turns it under hers so they’re clasped together. “Tell me more about him,” she asks. “He sounds like a great guy.”

Scott turns and kisses her on the cheek, slowly, gently encouraged. And then he does start telling her all about him, his voice so happy and proud as he does.

*

_ -Seriously Scott’s roast turned out so perfect, mine never do! What is the real secret Scott, give it up- _

_ -Yes to the upside-down cherry cake, but Tessa I draw the line at campfire desserts, I’m an indoor baking girl only!- _

_ -For sure making that cherry cake when I get home tonight- _

_ -Guys why do I feel like we just watched Scott and Tessa on a date together- _

_ -YES, TESSA AND SCOTT, THE ONLY MASHUP I CARE ABOUT, THANK YOU JF KITCHEN. Scott please invite Tessa to more episodes please- _

_ -I have such heart eyes for these two, and they clearly have heart eyes for each other <3 <3 <3- _

*

When Tessa finally returns to work on Wednesday it feels like she’s coming back after a long absence, much longer than just an extended weekend. As though she’s almost forgotten the route to get there, and where her desk is, and what recipes she’s meant to be working on next. But then, in some ways it _ is _ all new. Scott meets her inside the Metro at the transfer point between their two routes, and they make the trip to work together. 

Her desk, abandoned for a week, has started to collect notes and offerings from her colleagues — a second-hand coffee grinder still in good condition, gifted from Andrew after he’d found a replacement for his own; post-it-note feedback from Kaitlyn on her book outline draft; and then a box of candied ginger from Kaetlyn who must have visited some favourite farmers’ market stalls over the weekend. Tessa smiles as she looks over all of it, making mental notes of all the things she’ll do for her friends in return. 

For his part, Scott walks with Tessa as far as her desk and looks around a little furtively before kissing her goodbye for the day. They’d talked briefly about it and agreed they don’t necessarily mind if others in the test kitchen know about their relationship, but that doesn’t mean they’re ready to broadcast it fully just yet. They’re just going to play it by ear for a little while and see how long they can get away with flying under the radar. And while she has enough intelligence left in her mind to realize this is far from a well-thought-out plan, she also can’t bring herself to mind that much.

Tessa squeezes his hand and tries to resist blushing as she bids him a good day. “I’ll see you at five thirty?” she confirms. 

“On the dot,” Scott insists. “And I know we said we’d give ourselves space for a couple of evenings but that doesn’t mean I can’t still walk you home,” he tells her, his voice low and his face leaning back in dangerously close to hers. “Or that I can’t kiss you while I do.”

Tessa’s lips twist into a smile almost on reflex. “No, it definitely doesn’t,” she agrees. She glances around again and, noticing no one looking their way, steals one more kiss from him. His lips are almost on hers already by the time she does so and it’s a longer kiss than she’d intended at first. She can feel his hand coming to rest on her shoulder and manages to pull away before things get much more entangled. 

“Okay,” she says, coming up for air. “So, five thirty?” She runs both hands through her hair as if straightening herself up. 

“Just eight and a half hours to go,” Scott says, a little breathless himself. He reaches to squeeze both of her hands once more and then lets go. “Unless we find another reason to see each other before then,” he adds with a wink. 

She grins again, in spite of herself. “Go,” she insists, physically pushing him in the direction of his desk at the opposite end of the hall. And then she’s watching him walk away, his gaze lingering on her as long as he can manage. She shakes her head, still smiling. 

It’s just as she’s turning towards her own desk that Shae-Lynn appears from around the corner.

“Tessa! It’s good to see you back,” she says, coming to give her a quick hug in greeting.

“Thanks! It’s nice to be back, it feels like ages even though it’s just been a week.”

“Well, it was worth sending you guys up there, trust me, the footage was great. We’ve got two more episodes practically in the can already. We might have a new hit series on our hands just with the two of you.”

Tessa laughs out loud at the idea. “That _ is _ an idea. Well, as long as the audience enjoys the episodes that’s the important thing,” she says. “And I’ll make sure I have the recipes written up and posted for tomorrow, I think the cherry cake is going to be a big hit for sure,” she tells Shae-Lynn, though her mind is now already wandering, thinking about how she and Scott will manage future filming together. As it is, she’s already preparing for the moments when she’ll be interacting with Scott on camera so it won’t be blindingly obvious that they’re in a relationship now. If they keep doing whole episodes together she’s not sure she’ll be able to blur those lines very well at all. 

“All of it will be a hit, I guarantee it,” Shae-Lynn answers. She smiles at Tessa some more, looking at her with an almost appraising glance. “You look...rested,” she observes, almost like she’s congratulating her. “Some time in the outdoors must have done you some good.”

“It did,” Tessa answers, chuckling a little and hoping her cheeks aren’t too pink right now. “It was a great shoot, great getaway, great food. And thank you for the extra couple of days off, it was really worth it to have a bit of time to hang out,” she adds.

“I’m glad,” Shae-Lynn nods. She pauses, then, as though musing to herself before speaking any further. “And it went well with Scott? I know we sort of abandoned you guys a little there, calling Alex and Maia back early.”

“Oh, no,” Tessa says right away, shaking her head as though reassuring her. “It was fine, we still kept the cabin til the next day, Maia was very nice to insist we stay for the full booking, and…” She pauses, taking in Shae-Lynn’s suddenly keen expression, and thinking back over the events of the previous week. And then she realizes. “Oh my God,” she exclaims. “You _ didn’t_.”

“Did what?” Shae-Lynn asks, wide-eyed. She adjusts her shoulder bag and makes a half-hearted glance at her phone. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh my God,” Tessa repeats, her voice a mixture of horror and awe. “You did. You pulled the camera crew back early on purpose, didn’t you?” Mentally, she gives Shae-Lynn credit for her schooled expression, but Tessa can tell her guess isn’t wrong. “Did you even need Alex and Maia to come back? Was there actually a real camera malfunction with Jean-Luc’s crew?” she asks, her voice lowering as she leans in closer. 

“Well…not _ exactly_,” Shae-Lynn starts to explain. 

“Oh my _ God_,” Tessa repeats again, this time punctuating her response with a shove to Shae-Lynn’s shoulder. For the moment she doesn’t exactly care by how many rungs Shae-Lynn out-ranks her. “You set us up!” she exclaims, barely maintaining a whisper.

“And I have zero regrets about it,” Shae-Lynn answers, grinning. 

But then suddenly all either of them can do is just laugh. Tessa notices Kaetlyn walking by, a curious expression on her face, and Tessa makes a mental note to prepare for another conversation with her, later. 

“I can’t believe I fell for it,” Tessa says, shaking her head. Some tears of laughter have escaped and she wipes under her eyes quickly with one hand. 

Shae-Lynn laughs again. “I just figured...you both seemed to be getting along so well,” she explains. “And I couldn’t tell exactly _ how _ well, but I felt like it wouldn’t hurt to give you guys a little time and space to yourselves.” She pauses, chewing her lip a little. “And I know we’ve been working you both pretty hard, lately, and the opportunity to film up at those cabins came up, and...well, I can’t help it. I wanted to give you guys the nudge, in case it was what you needed,” she adds, her voice gentle.

Tessa smiles, equally gently. Just then she realizes how lucky she is to be where she is right now, surrounded by so many people who not only work very hard but care so much about her. And who care about each other. “It turns out that it was,” she admits, feeling the blush returning to her cheeks. “And I’m not sorry that we took advantage of it,” she tells her, and this time she can’t help the actual giggle that escapes.

“Oh my God,” Shae-Lynn says this time, just as delighted. She squeezes Tessa’s shoulders with both hands. “Then I’m not sorry either.”

Tessa lets out a breath. “It was a nice time. And so were the extra days off,” she reports again, and winks. 

At that, Shae-Lynn practically squeals, which leads to both of them laughing again. This time Tessa notices a glance from another man walking by, a new guy she faintly remembers meeting a couple of weeks ago. Alvin? Elvis? There seem to be new people in the office every month, now.

“Seriously, though, I’m glad it was a good weekend. And maybe, when you want to, you can tell me more about the two of you,” her friend and mentor tells her. 

“Yes, I will,” Tessa promises. “I’d like that.”

Shae-Lynn lets out a sigh, as though she’s choosing between congratulating Tessa and asking her more questions. But then she just shakes her head again, the same smile on her face as before. “For now I think I’d better let you get back to work. I’ll see you tomorrow for filming?”

“Count on it.”

“Good,” Shae-Lynn answers. “And I’d say make sure Scott stops by for a cameo, but somehow I don’t think that’s going to be a problem,” she says knowingly.

They exchange another round of laughter and Tessa happily accepts a collegial shoulder squeeze before Shae-Lynn leaves her to her work. 

She settles herself at her station and prepares for a day of catch-up and prep for her next batch of recipes and filming. It’s more than a little amazing — and strange — to think that she owes the luxurious weekend with Scott to the work of some scheming coworkers. She wonders if Kaitlyn or the others were in on it too — and how many of them might already realize she and Scott are now together. But they meant well — very well — and in the end she just can’t be mad at them. 

After a morning spent with her head down at her desk Tessa takes a break for lunch with Kaetlyn, and ends up telling her the whole story, too, over sandwiches and coffee. Kaetlyn just smiles at her the whole time, and Tessa would swear she gives an actual dreamy sigh as the story finishes. 

As they return from lunch she sees Scott walking out with Patrick, looking very buddy-ish, and Tessa already guesses they’re having a similar conversation. She catches eyes with Scott and winks at him, and he does the same. She purses her lips just slightly, wanting to blow him a kiss but holding back.

She spends the rest of the afternoon back at her desk, working and writing. By the end of the day she has several recipe drafts ready for review, and a game plan for the next couple of weeks. But it doesn’t escape her notice the way others in the office behave around her — like they’re just a little more curious, smiling just a little more. She just shakes her head at all of it, realizing what’s happening. Still, she doesn’t mind it at all. 

As promised she meets Scott in the lobby just after five thirty, and finds him already waiting. He kisses her on the cheek and there’s an odd expression on his face. 

“Hey, so, tell me if I’m wrong but I feel like the whole office knows about us,” he says, a combination of sheepishness and pride in his voice. 

“I’m pretty sure that’s exactly what’s happened,” she agrees. “I’m guessing you told Patrick?”

“Well, yeah, but like...it’s Patrick, I tell him everything.”

“Well, I did tell Kaet, too, so probably between the two of them…” Tessa just shrugs, and laughs. 

Scott shakes his head slowly in resignation. “So much for our well-thought out plan.”

“In retrospect it may not have been as well-thought out as we believed,” she says. 

“I suppose we should have given our coworkers a little more credit.” They walk out through the big lobby doors and as usual he slips his hand into hers before they get to the corner.

“Did Patrick also tell you about the set-up?” she asks as they wait for the light. “With the fake camera malfunction?”

“The what with the _ what_?” His expression of genuine surprise tells her all she needs to know and she lets out a breath, nervous laughter escaping her. It makes her feel a little less embarrassed she hadn’t figured it out either. And also makes her wonder if he’s just as far gone for her as she is for him. 

“Oh, have I got a _ story _ for you.” And then she tells him everything. 

  
  


*

“Hi everyone! I’m Tessa, here in the _ J’ai Faim _ test kitchen, and today we’re making gourmet...Cherry Blossoms!”

The camera pans out to reveal Tessa surrounded by a veritable homemade fort of little yellow cube-shaped candy boxes. She grins as she holds out her arms, gesturing in excitement. 

“So, I have to confess I’ve never actually tried one of these little guys before. I know they were very popular back in the day, and it’s always been one of those candies that it seemed like everyone’s aunt or uncle used to like.” 

Kaetlyn and Patrick have been chatting nearby, and Tessa calls them over to taste a sample with her. “Have you guys ever had one of these before?”

“I think once or twice, maybe, when I was little?” Kaetlyn offers. “My grandma always used to put them in my Christmas stocking, but I can’t remember what they taste like now.” 

“Yeah, same, maybe I had one ages ago but I can’t really remember. As a kid I was always more into regular candy bars,” Patrick says. 

“Great, so we’re all pretty much in the same boat here,” Tessa answers. “Well, let’s check this out, shall we?” She hands each of them one of the boxes and they open them up in turn, a little gleefully. Inside each box is a little foil packet with the candy inside. The others open theirs up, revealing little dome-shaped milk chocolate confections. Kaetlyn and Patrick exchange curious looks, examining the candies. Tessa can’t help grinning and she’s not sure why. “Well, cheers, guys!” They each tap their candies together and then take a bite.

Tessa chews her bite for a moment, letting the sugary taste hit her palate. “Hm,” is all she says at first. 

“Yeah,” Patrick agrees, looking at the candy in his hand, before taking another bite.

“I mean, it’s not _ bad_,” Kaetlyn offers, her eyebrows lifting a little. 

“It’s not bad,” Tessa repeats in agreement. “It really is like a cordial cherry in the middle, and the outside is like...I don’t know, it tastes familiar though, like…”

“Like one of those peanut chocolate bars,” Patrick supplies. “It’s sort of like the outside of an O Henry bar but with fewer nuts. Or like those Mr. Goodbars they have down in the States,” he adds, thinking about it.

“Ooh, yeah, you’re right about that,” Tessa agrees. “That’s actually really good insight, maybe I could build on what I did for the O Henry challenge.” 

“But it’s like...It’s just _ so _ sweet,” Kaetlyn says after a moment. “Can you do anything about that Tess? It’s so sweet it’s like I almost can’t tell what the other flavours are after a while.”

“I think we can for sure do that,” Tessa says, already riding a wave of confidence. “I think the first step is to use some good milk chocolate, make that flavour stand out more. And we can use some good nuts too, maybe roast them here so they’re good and fresh.”

“What about this gooey middle, though, Tess?” Patrick asks as he points to the middle of his candy. They’ve all started holding their candies carefully after taking a couple bites, because the cherry in the middle is surrounded by a sort of semi-liquid filling that somehow keeps getting more gooey the more it sits there. Kaetlyn shifts her Cherry Blossom to the other hand and licks her fingers that have already started to get sticky.

“Yeah, that’s going to be the interesting part, no mistake about that,” Tessa answers. “I feel like the trick with this one is that they’ve somehow managed to combine a cordial cherry and a chocolate bar into the same candy and I have to figure out how to do that, too.”

“It’s kind of weird, but I like it,” Kaetlyn decides, before finishing her last bite.

Tessa laughs. “Well, that’s a good level to aim for. Weird but good.”

She exchanges a few more on-camera comments with some others in the kitchen, and then when she’s back alone at her station she takes a moment to read out the ingredients list on the package. “Oh, this is helpful, actually,” she says. “I mean, a lot of this is just the chocolate and nuts and different kinds of sugar, but there’s also something in here that I _ think _ is an enzyme,” she says, pointing at the label as though the camera can see it. She guesses that in the post-production they’ll pause on that part of the ingredients label, when putting the text on the screen. 

“I’ve never worked with those before. From what I do know they’re quite expensive, and harder to come by,” Tessa muses. “Can we get food enzymes for this?” she asks Shae-Lynn, who gives her an uncertain look and a shrug just off-camera. Tessa lets her think about it and then turns to Kurt for his thoughts. “Kurt, have you ever worked with this kind of stuff before?” 

In answer, Kurt gives her a hesitant look very similar to Shae-Lynn’s. “I think once or twice back when I was training? I think they’re getting more common in baking, now, but it’s still pretty specialized food science stuff.” He comes around to stand next to her. “You might have to come up with an alternative.”

Tessa judges he’s right, based on the nod and thumbs up Shae-Lynn gives them. “That sounds more realistic.” She examines the package and then opens it up, pulling out the candy that’s wrapped up inside. “So how else do we replicate something that does this?” she asks, as she places the candy on the cutting board in front of her, and then cuts a clean line down the middle. “Would just plain, thick, sugar syrup do the job?”

She draws the two halves apart and lets Alex pull the camera in to get a good shot of the cross-section, as the filling around the cherry centre gradually becomes more and more gooey and liquid. “That’s what those enzymes are for, they break down the filling so it can change from a solid to a liquid after the candy’s been packaged.” She lifts her eyebrows a little, as another thought occurs to her. “That explains why the chocolate is so neat, there’s no obvious seam lines on it or anything. And it would make creating the centre a lot easier. I bet they fill it all in the same mould and seal it up, no need to worry about leakage from liquid. It’s actually kind of brilliant.”

“Yeah…” Kurt nods, peering at the gooey cherry filling and then taking a taste with his finger. “I feel like you’ve got your work cut out for you on this one, Tess!” He’s laughing a little, but it’s a sympathetic laugh, she can tell. 

“_Thanks_,” she returns, laughing again too. “Alright then, I’d better get to work!”

She gathers up the remaining candy packages as best she can with the aid of a sheet tray, and then goes off in search of her ingredients.

  
  


*

Tessa’s first day on Cherry Blossoms goes fairly smoothly, all things considered. She manages to source some candy moulds that are about the right shape and size for what she needs, and does a first test of the outer shell using some good quality milk chocolate and some freshly toasted, chopped peanuts. It’s a challenge working with tempered chocolate and also getting the nuts added in, but she manages that too. 

Her final task of the day is setting up a batch of home-made maraschino cherries — with everything else in the project being made from scratch she can’t bear to use cherries out of the jar, but there’s no point in trying it without getting them started on the first day so they can sit in their brine overnight. The crew wraps a little later but she’s feeling good by the end of it — a good kind of fatigue. Scott not only stops in at the end of the day to chat on camera about her progress, but listens patiently as Tessa talks through her ideas for the rest of it. 

“Part of me wants to shake it up a little, you know? Like, maybe substitute almonds instead of peanuts. Ooh, I could even put a bit of almond paste into the filling…” Tessa’s words trail off as she gets deeper into her thoughts about it. 

“Yeah, go for it Tess,” he nods. They’re standing next to each other on the Metro, practically squashed together in the packed rush-hour crowds. “I mean, nobody said anything about the peanuts being required, did they?”

“Well, no. But it _ would _ change the flavour profile,” she allows. 

“Change it, or elevate it?” he asks, his expression encouraging. He makes a half-hearted attempt at a nudge that ends up mostly lost by the jostling of the subway car as it rounds a turn. 

“Maybe both,” she responds, holding her chin high in satisfaction and optimism. “I mean, it’s just the first day and it went pretty well, it’s possible I’m just going to crash and burn on the second day.”

“Well, I’ll be in the kitchen tomorrow prepping some stuff, I’ll be there for backup if you need me,” Scott tells her. 

“Oh, they will love that. The viewers, of course. Well, _ and _ everyone else. And me, of course I will,” Tessa adds. “I should have said that part first, shouldn’t I?”

“No, that sounds about right,” he answers, affecting a mock-serious tone. “Audience first. Then coworkers. I mean, without the audience where’s our paycheque coming from, right?”

Tessa snorts. “I guess I’ll have to go back to that cookbook outline after all. I should have a backup plan in case they start getting tired of me.”

Scott shakes his head. “Never going to happen.” He grabs her hand as the train pulls into the station and they make their way to transfer, heading to his place for the evening. “But you should for sure work on that cookbook outline anyway, T. The world needs your puff pastry recipe.”

“Fine,” she allows. “But I make no promises.”

The next day starts well, with Tessa finishing up the syrup for the cherries so they can sweeten up and be ready for use in the filling. Next she roasts up some almonds and splits them between a second batch of the chocolate shells and a batch of home-made almond paste.

Scott’s been working away at one of the benches in the background, mostly carrying on occasional conversation with the others, or stopping to make notes on his own recipe progress. In the afternoon he stops by her station, when she’s in the process of putting together the almond paste.

“What have we got here, T? Oh, it’s looking good,” he says, taking a seat on the stool she almost never uses while working. He peers over at the moulds that have already been filled with their chocolate layers. 

“Yeah, not bad, right? Except, now I have two kinds of shells — one with almonds and one with peanuts. In my excitement to move to almonds I sort of forgot I already did the peanuts, yesterday,” she laughs. She’s got the marzipan ready to go and pulls the bowl in front of her. “And the…”

“Tess, you did all this since this morning?” He looks at his watch, almost disbelieving. “You’ve got a whole pro candy making operation here.”

“Almost,” she allows. She’s admittedly feeling some pride about her progress so far. “But now it’s the first test of making the centre, so the wheels could come off at this point,” she says, her gaze flickering briefly towards the camera. 

“You want some help?” Scott asks. “I’ve got some time, if you want.”

“Maybe,” Tessa says. “It might be mostly moral support at this point, though, why don’t you come back a little later, hopefully I’ll have a finished candy to show you — to show everyone, before the end of the day,” she adds quickly. Already she’s starting to forget that her new relationship with Scott is something she wasn’t going to try to broadcast. But there’s no denying her comfort level with him has reached a kind of shorthand that wasn’t there before — both from their new intimacy and also just from having spent so much time in different kitchens together, at all hours. 

“You got it, T,” he answers. As he stands up from the stool he leans a little closer to her, and she recognizes the motion as him moving to kiss her on the cheek. She freezes briefly, wondering if he’s forgotten there’s the camera there. But then at the last moment he straightens again, and just gives her a smile, and squeezes her arm with his hand. “I’ll catch you in a bit.”

Tessa lets out a breath and smiles at him as he goes, and hopes her cheeks aren’t too pink when she turns back to the camera. “Okay, so where were we? Right, yes, the filling…” She glances wryly at Maia, who judging from her expression is just managing to hold back a giggle. Maia puts one hand in front of her mouth to contain it, and Tessa just shakes her head a little and keeps going, a smile still on her face. 

“So anyway, what I’m going to try right now is making a little kind of centre shell out of the almond paste — rolling it out really thin and then shaping it into spheres. And see if I can fill that and then seal it up with the cherry and a bit of syrup on the inside. And…yeah, we’ll see how this goes!” 

At first the almond paste plan seems to go well — she rolls it out and cuts it out into discs, and then gets some smaller circular moulds to press the marzipan discs into. The next task is to start in on placing a single cherry with syrup into the middle. 

“So, I do have to work with some speed, here, because the longer the almond paste is exposed to the air, the more it risks drying out,” she explains to the camera. “So even though I’ve only got enough to make four complete centres, I think I’m going to go ahead with filling them, and with any luck we’ll have a completed candy by the end of the day.”

Filling them proves a little messier than she’d thought, mostly because of the syrup itself. It’s almost the end of the day, and she’s tired, and reaching that point where she’s on the edge between completely giving up and just laughing at herself. Tessa’s leaning towards the first option by the time she finally gets the filling into four of the chocolate shells. Her shoulders and feet are feeling the efforts of the day and the fact that she hasn’t sat down much except for lunch. In fact, she barely remembers lunch time. She remembers meeting up with Scott and sharing sandwiches and conversation, but just now she couldn’t tell you what they talked about. 

But it also occurs to her then that she’d forgotten about needing to melt and temper some chocolate to seal up this first batch of candies, so the chances of her getting to a taste test by the end of the day are now approaching slim-to-none. So she just keeps up the work and tries to get it done as quickly and mistake-free as possible, her cheerful camera personality having now waned. Kurt looks on from his station as she does so — saying nothing, but nodding and smiling in relief when it looks like she’s gotten that step done safely. 

“Hey, T!” Scott comes by with a smile, a little after five o’clock, and then immediately pauses both his words and his step when he sees her expression. “How’s it going?” His voice shifts to a softer tone as he comes to stand next to her. 

“It’s so close,” Tessa tells both Scott and the camera — but mostly him, if she’s honest. She rubs the back of her wrist across her forehead and tucks her hair back over her ears with both hands. She guesses she must look as tired as she feels. “But I forgot that I needed to temper the chocolate again to seal up the test candies, and that took some time,” she says, releasing a sigh. 

“Oh, of course,” Scott answers. He looks over her now mostly-empty workbench, curious. “They’re setting up, now, though?”

She nods. “Yeah. But I don’t think we’re going to get to taste them today, sorry,” she tells him, and also glances back to Kurt, who she realizes has been patiently observing her progress all day. She hasn’t needed to rely on his expertise but it’s helped her feel grounded at least to know he’s been there. “They need more time to set, so I’m going to leave them overnight just to be sure.”

“Sure, sounds good. So taste test first thing tomorrow?” Scott offers her an encouraging smile, one that she can tell is entirely genuine and not at all put on for the camera. “You got your first version done, though, that’s huge progress, T. And it’s like, multiple parts to it, and everything.”

“Did she tell you she made her own maraschino cherries, too?” Kurt volunteers, from just behind them. He lifts his hands up as though slightly in awe. That gesture alone makes her feel a little burst of pride. 

“Yeah you did,” Scott says, nudging her arm with his. “You’ll finish this up tomorrow, easy-peasey.”

“Failure is not an option,” Kurt says confidently.

She scoffs a little then, her stubborn-ness boosting her back up. “Oh, of course not! We’ve got at least a day or two yet before we’re that desperate,” she says, partly to him and partly to the camera. She hopes she’s right.

The next day she returns to the project first thing in the morning, feeling oddly refreshed. It helped that she spent the evening with Scott doing and saying nothing related to Cherry Blossom concoctions in any way. 

Both Kaetlyn and Scott are on hand for the first taste test, all eager smiles. Tessa takes a deep breath as she taps on the moulds to release the handful of filled chocolates. “Okay, here’s the first test, let’s slice through a cross-section of one of these and see how it looks.” She cuts through one of the almond ones and is pleased when some of the syrup does drain out after cutting. But the almond paste layer hasn’t broken or dissolved at all, which she had hoped might happen, to contribute to the pasty-sugary core. 

“Ooh, not bad, Tess,” Kaetlyn says first, looking over at the candy. “It’s got layers, and the cherry in the middle, and you can see the nuts in the shell for sure.” 

“Totally,” Scott nods, and Tessa shoots him a glance that is somehow equal parts adoring and withering. She can tell he’s there to encourage her no matter what, but also that he doesn’t have any real personal stake in the final flavour result on this one. But then, none of them really do, Tessa reasons. 

She slices up one of the peanut ones next and the result is much the same. The layers are still visible but the syrup drains away quickly once the centre is cut through. “Alright guys, let’s see what we’ve got.” She cuts each of the pieces into halves again and they each taste one of them. “Hm,” she says, thinking about the taste.

“It’s really not too bad,” Kaetlyn repeats. “I kind of like the almond one, it’s sort of nice with the marzipan in there. I mean, maybe you don’t need the marzipan if it’s got peanuts in the shell. But either way I wish there was more of the gooey centre.”

Scott’s nodding, thinking about the bite he’s finishing. “Mm, yeah, I don’t mind the almond either. I think if you’re gonna go with the almond paste then stick with the almonds all the way through,” he says, finding something both positive and constructive to comment on. He licks his fingers. “I think you’re on your way, T, you’re pretty close already.”

Tessa smiles at them both, glad for the comments as well as the encouragement. A few minutes later Kurt stops by and adds to their colleagues’ notes. 

“I think if you’re going to go for the almond paste in the middle then you can’t have peanuts in the chocolate,” Kurt reasons, having tried both of them. He shakes his head. “I feel like it changes the flavour profile too much. And really, as sweet and sugary as the original is, it’s actually pretty simple as far as the flavours.”

“You’re right,” Tessa agrees. “I just need to stay in one lane. I think I probably tried to tweak one too many things at once.”

“What’s happening with that marzipan layer, though, are you going to keep that in there? I mean, it’s a pretty nice touch but you maybe don’t need it.” 

“Yeah, you’re probably right about that, too, although I thought maybe it would be a way to elevate it a bit from the original. And also give me that extra seal between the cherry syrup and the chocolate shell. But maybe….hmm,” she thinks out loud and then pauses again.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Kurt responds. “It just seems like a whole batch of extra work, though, you might not need it. Honestly, you really are so close, you’ve got the chocolate shells, the roasted nuts, the cherries in the middle…”

“I definitely like the cherries,” Tessa interjects. “Those were totally worth the effort.” She reaches for the jar with the remaining cherries, doing some mental math about how many she’ll have left. “So, this has been a promising test overall, you’re right,” she says, both to Kurt and to the camera. “I think what I need to do is pull back a little, keep it simple. Maybe I’ll skip the almond layer but I’ll try thickening the syrup with a little bit of it mushed up in there, that way I’ll still get some gooey-ness in the middle but won’t have to fuss around with it as much.” She nods, her lips twisting in thought. “Yes, I like that plan. Plus, I’ll have to seal up the bottoms with that final layer of tempered chocolate, so there’s not that much advantage in doing a third later.” 

“Yeah, sounds like you’ve got it,” Kurt agrees. “Can’t wait to see the final product!” He offers her another encouraging smile before heading back to his station.

Alone once again with her work, Tessa takes a deep breath and lets it out again. She doesn’t say anything for a moment but just lets her thoughts settle.

Maia speaks up first from the crew behind the camera, offering her a nudge. “What are you thinking, Tess?”

Tessa slowly nods and then looks from the camera to Maia and then back again. “I think, maybe this is going to turn out a little easier than I thought. I hope, anyway,” she adds. 

And in the end, it does. She returns to the rest of the shells with the almonds and fills them in with cherries and thicker syrup, and then tops them with a small disc of almond paste — which has been rolled this time with some finely chopped maraschino cherries — and then seals them up. By the end of the day she has ten completed candies.

She taps them out from the moulds successfully and then sits one on the cutting board in front of her, a sharp knife ready in her hand. “Okay, what do we think, guys, three day finish?” 

“Yeah!” Alex says, giving her a thumbs up from his spot at the camera. 

Tessa glances around and sees Kurt looking over from his bench, and Kaetlyn and Scott are both hovering over at the windows, also looking on. She smiles to herself and feels a little embarrassed all of a sudden. It’s just chocolate and sugar, after all. 

She takes in a breath and then just leans in and cuts into the candy, halfway giggling to herself as she does. She gently pulls apart the two halves and, just as she’d hoped, the filling oozes out of the centre while leaving the cherry in the middle. The little bit of almond paste at the bottom has indeed lent some stability to the whole affair, and while it might not be an exact replica of the original candy, it looks pretty darned good. 

“Yeah!” Kaetlyn calls from the side, having clearly watched all of this unfold. She and Scott both start clapping, and then more laughter starts up in the rest of the kitchen, even from the people who must not have any real idea of what’s going on. 

“Okay guys, just get over here,” Tessa says, waving over all Kaetlyn and Scott. 

“I want to taste these ones, I need to know!” Kaetlyn says, genuinely eager. Tessa cuts the halves into halves again and they all taste them — Scott just pops the whole thing right into his mouth, so then Tessa does the same thing. 

The sweet and chocolatey flavours both hit her tongue at once, and then she gets the nutty almond flavour next. It’s actually not bad. 

“Oh, you know what, I kind of like it,” Tessa says first. “This is a pretty good candy, guys.”

Scott slaps his hand on the counter. “That’s a good candy, T,” he repeats, enthusiastic. “You did an awesome job.”

“Well, you guys were instrumental on this one, believe me,” she tells both of them, as well as Kurt, just behind her. “Turns out it was just hard enough but actually not as hard as I thought.”

Scott shrugs in agreement. “Well that’s a winning combination, then.” He reaches for another piece of the chocolate and Tessa laughs, just letting him.

It’s been a good day. 

She takes the remaining jar of cherries home and lets Scott make them cocktails with them, and after that she lets him take her to bed. And it turns out to be a very, very good evening, too.

*

_ -OK Cherry Blossoms are the weirdest candy I never knew I needed to try until now. BRB checking the internet to see if I can find them- _

_ -You stick to your guns, Tessa! Keep those almonds in there, I bet it tastes way better than peanuts- _

_ -Guys I don’t know what happened but something feels different with those two, am I seeing things? Tess and Scott are so much cozier together now- _

_ -Looks like their collaboration time went better than we thought, LOL. Scott out here looking like a snack and he still only has eyes for our Tess- _

_ -YEAH, Tessa, get it girl- _

*

The rest of the summer passes much the way it started — with more visiting with friends and family; evenings of long, conversation-filled dinners with Scott; and sunny, languid weekends filled with....other activities. 

As promised, Tessa makes a vacation visit to Ontario and has a much-needed catch-up with her family. She gets to see one of her brothers and his family, and then meets up with her mother and sister to spend the rest of the week at their family’s lakeside cottage, lounging and eating, and pouring wine and laughing. It’s a wonderful week, made even more wonderful by the fact that she can share more with them about the recent changes in her relationship with Scott. And then, at the end of the week, he makes the drive up to spend a day with her there before bringing her back to Ilderton, and comes through unscathed and adored by all of the Virtue women. 

Tessa spends a short weekend with Scott after that, getting to visit with his family — his parents as well as his grandfather, for a short visit. She can tell that he’s a little frail, physically, but still very sharp otherwise, and he makes her laugh with his charm. When she leaves Scott at the end of the weekend she feels warmed, and welcomed, and she can tell he does too. 

And the summer continues. There’s still work to attend to, of course. But Alex and Maia had been right when they warned about the slower pace of production during July and August. Between the various staff absences at different times, she and Scott only end up filming two videos each during the summer months (Tessa films a _ Gourmet Treats _ segments for Hot Lips gummy candies, as well as a video on summer fruit pies, while Scott films a pair of videos showcasing different grilled recipes. Tessa makes sure to benefit from the results of the last one, making an appearance at the end to help taste the results.) 

The slower pace of life also leaves plenty of time for their own recipe development and writing, and Tess ends up banking several pieces that will be posted to the _ JF _ website over the course of the fall. And, she finally sends in a batch of culinary fellowship applications, including two elsewhere in Canada and the one in New York City, thanks to Kaitlyn’s enthusiastic encouragement — “I_t’ll be good practice even if you don’t get it, Tess,” _ her friend had reminded her. Scott’s support has been unfailing, too, even though Tessa keeps reassuring him the application most likely won’t lead to anything. But overall, the work is more than enough to make Tessa breathe a little easier, feeling accomplished and ready for a short respite before starting a fresh batch of challenges in the fall. 

The week before Labour Day they manage to steal away for a proper vacation to the west coast. They spend a couple of days visiting some of Scott’s old haunts on Vancouver Island, then some hiking, and finally a few luxurious days in a hotel in the city. 

And then, just like that, it’s fall again. 

*

It’s almost the end of September when Tessa gets the interview request from New York. It’s a Thursday and she’s working from home on recipe research, video content planning, and writing up an article that the print magazine will publish in January — on ‘vinegar pie’ and other ‘desperation desserts’ that work well in the winter when both fresh ingredients and large budgets are hard to come by. Or, to be more accurate, she’s working from Scott’s apartment, where she’s been staying all week. She has her laptop and notes all set up on one side of his desk in the open living room, her coffee poured into the same mug she always uses when she’s at his place. 

It’s not the first week Tessa’s spent like this. Over the course of the summer they’d gone from spending just weekends together in the same apartment, to counting Thursdays and then Wednesdays as part of the ‘weekend’, and now they’ve fallen into an unspoken rhythm of alternating apartments almost for the whole week. Most weeks she only has one or two nights alone in her own place. It’s a development that took a little bit of adjusting to for her, but definitely a good development. She can tell Scott enjoys it too. There’s something in the way he holds her hand now when they head ‘home’ at the end of the day, it’s like he’s more settled when he’s with her, more excited just knowing that he’s going to spend the whole evening with her and then wake up with her again the next day. And she has to admit she shares those feelings. 

When she looks around the room, now, here at Scott’s place, she can see markers of her presence everywhere: her sweater tossed over the back of the couch; a selection of her own cookbooks stacked on the coffee table. In the bathroom there’s a jar of her moisturizer and a bottle of her face wash in his medicine cabinet, and in the kitchen it’s her preferred brand of coffee that now resides in the canister on the counter. 

On this particular afternoon, after a solid hour of writing she takes a break to check her email and discovers one waiting from the New York magazine. She gasps a little to herself, momentarily frozen. Then she takes a deep breath and opens the message. 

_ ‘Dear Ms. Virtue, _

_ After reviewing your fellowship application we are pleased to invite you to come for an interview in person. Below please find times and dates available, we will be happy to coordinate via phone call if this is preferable for you. As we have several candidates to consider it will be ideal to hear from you as soon as possible in order to secure a time…’ _

Tessa gasps again, this time bringing a hand to cover her mouth. She feels a sudden thrill of excitement at the news, knowing there’s a chance they might actually choose her. That her application was enough for them to bring her in. Then she exhales, breathing out and then in again, reminding herself that they probably have at least five candidates to choose from, if not more, and that nothing is guaranteed. But she also knows she’s not turning down the interview, not for a million dollars. _ It’ll be good practice if nothing else _, she tells herself in her mind, the exact same thing she’d told Kaitlyn when she was filling in the application. 

A half hour later she’s phoning them back to schedule an interview time, and another hour after that she finds herself researching plane tickets and a hotel room for a date almost exactly two weeks from today. She puts in a request for the time off, which won’t be too badly timed since it’s just a couple of days before Thanksgiving and other members of the test kitchen staff will be taking some extra time then, too. By the time Scott comes home she’s standing half-dazed in the kitchen, waiting for a pot of water to boil, contemplating the ingredients for her pasta recipe but also the news of the afternoon. 

“Hey, pretty lady,” he says, walking right into the kitchen after arriving. He drops his things on one of the stools, coming to give her a gentle kiss in greeting. “Good day?”

“Yes,” she nods, but doesn’t go into detail yet. “You?”

“It was good,” he nods back, a genuine smile on his face. “I filmed with Patrick today, they had us doing a whole bunch of talking head stuff for the next compilation video. You’re supposed to be up tomorrow I think.”

Tessa had almost forgotten about that. Shae-Lynn had started having them batch produce a few videos all at once, filming all of the test kitchen chefs solo or in pairs for the same collection of topics, and then spreading out their release over the next few months. Alphabetically, Tessa’s one of the last up in the filming sequence. “That sounds fun. Are you allowed to tell me what the topics are all about or are you sworn to secrecy?”

“Secrecy, of course,” he answers, practically scoffing. “You should know better by now, T. But I will tell you there’s some blindfolded taste testing in there, just don’t let on I said anything.” He offers her another smile and a wink, and then turns to grab a beer from the fridge.

He opens the bottle and returns to sit down at the island and she joins him. 

“I have something to tell you. Well, a couple of things, actually,” Tessa clarifies.

“Oh?” Scott’s expression shifts a little, curious but a little hesitant. She knows by now how good he is at picking up on her tone.

“Yeah. Well, the first thing is, we are for sure filming maple cookies next week,” she tells him, and is thrilled to see his face light up. “I confirmed with Marie and Shae-Lynn today, they really like them as part of the fall content lineup.”

“_ Yes, _ finally,” he says excitedly. He reaches to rest one hand on her thigh. “And I’ll be in the kitchen next week too working on recipes so that means I can come help taste if you want. It’s perfect timing, I won’t have to travel anywhere until Thanksgiving.”

Tessa takes in a breath. “Well, about that...that’s the other thing I have to tell you about.” She tells him then, about the interview request and the timing and how she’ll be headed to New York City for two days shortly before the Thanksgiving holiday. 

He puts down his drink and just listens to her tell him everything, his expression a mix of bewildered surprise and pride. Then he just shakes his head, his smile returning. “That’s...that’s amazing Tess, congratulations.” He grabs her hand in his and squeezes. “You’ll do great, of course you will.”

“Maybe,” she admits. “It’s so competitive, and I don’t want to get my hopes up too high.”

“Tess, you’re the one who said even if it doesn’t happen it’ll still be great to get the practice and the exposure,” he reminds her, sharing back the words he’d heard her say several times over when she was putting the application together. 

“I know. And in that spirit, I thought maybe you could come with me?” she asks him, her hands coming up to rest on his shoulders as she shifts a little closer to him. “We’ll get a trip to New York out of it, we could have a couple of nice dinners, maybe see a show?”

“Yeah?” He reaches both hands towards her now, holding her hips. He looks like he’s thinking about it, but nodding a little, too. “I guess that would be pretty fun. Right before Thanksgiving, right?”

“Yep.” She nods back. “I already booked a hotel and we can still get a decent rate on the plane tickets if we book now.” She bites her lip in spite of herself, feeling nervous about how she’s sprung all of this on him so quickly. “What do you think?”

A gentle chuckle escapes him, and his hands momentarily tighten their grip at her waist. “I think it’s a great idea, T. I’d love a getaway with you. And you know I support you like crazy, even if the interview doesn’t go anywhere,” he says, looking her right in the eyes so she’s left with no doubts. “I’ll put in for my time off tomorrow.”

She smiles, physically relaxing at his reaction. “Good,” she answers with a sigh. “I’ll set it up first thing tomorrow. Well, or maybe later tonight,” she thinks.

He just shakes his head at her, his smile turning into a smirk. “Go,” he says, nodding towards the living room where he knows her laptop and papers are still set up. “I’ll get dinner on. What are we looking at, potato gnocchi again?” he asks, looking around at the pot on the stove and the assembled ingredients and tools.

“Yes,” Tessa laughs. “I just need to make it one more time, then I promise I will move on,” she insists. She’s made the same recipe once a week for the last month, ever since the weather started turning, as though she’s working through some kind of phase. And every time he’s eaten it with her happily, furnishing them with a different salad to go with it each time. 

“I’ve watched you do this four weeks in a row now, I think I can take over,” he tells her, and then kisses her again. “Go book everything and I’ll have everything halfway ready by the time you’re done. And _ then _ you can tell me all about the interview prep. _ And _ the maple cookies,” he adds, because truthfully she’d almost forgotten about those even in the last few minutes.

“It’s a deal.” She squeezes his hands and then heads off to do exactly that. 

  
  


*

“Hey there everyone. It’s Tessa again, I’m here in the _ JF _ test kitchen, and today we’re going to make gourmet...maple cookies!”

She gestures to the display in front of her, a gesture that kicks off a process which has by now become so familiar that she forgets this is actually her job. She’s getting paid on a regular basis to re-create these candies and cookies and even if she doesn’t get it quite right it will still be a win. Now that she’s finally realized that it’s made the process even more fun, and she can let herself enjoy it. Even if it still seems like the oddest thing, as though any moment someone’s going to catch her and remind her she has a bunch of pie recipes to be writing up instead. Which, actually, she _ does _ also have some pie recipes to be writing up, but she’ll get to that later. 

“So these little Dare cookies have been a very popular request, we’ve been hearing about them I think ever since our very first _ Gourmet Treats _ episode. And now we’re going to give them a go! We’ve got you covered, guys.” She opens up one of the cookie packages and pulls out one cookie, and then takes a bite. “Yeah, they do taste like I remember! Very sweet, very maple-y,” she says. “I think there’s a reason these guys are still a classic in Canadian households, they’re just a nice balanced sandwich cookie, easy to eat with a glass of milk.”

As usual she takes tasting feedback from several others in the kitchen — Kaitlyn and Andrew both stop by, offering different perspectives, and then Patrick and Kaetlyn do as well, each very eager to take some of the leftover packages once Tessa’s finished with them — but it’s really Scott that Tessa wants to hear from. He comes over last, but definitely not least. 

“These cookies are one of your personal favourites, aren’t they?” Tessa asks him to start. She knows all of the conversations the two of them have had about these cookies, but doesn’t want to reveal anything about his thoughts for him. 

It’s still something she has to stay on top of, when they’re filming, making sure they still come across as professional colleagues more so than a boyfriend-and-girlfriend team. While the rest of the kitchen staff have known about their relationship for a while, they haven’t done anything to broadcast it on the videos, and that’s the way they’re going to keep it for the time being. But she also knows the audience has picked up on their relatively close demeanour with each other, even though they’re not exactly making out on screen. So it’s a fine line they’re still figuring out how to walk, and admittedly the line gets farther and farther away from her. Scott’s enthusiasm and affection is hard to rein in, and there’s a big part of Tessa that doesn’t want to try to.

“Yeah, they are for sure,” Scott reports, a happy expression on his face as he looks over the display of cookie packages. Tessa holds out the open one and he takes a cookie right away. “Mmm, yeah, that’s it,” he says. “I remember having these all the time when I was a kid. My parents would sometimes get them but it was _ always _ my grandparents that would keep them around. I think maybe it was my grandma who liked them but then they became my grandpa’s favourite, too.”

“So these are a real Moir family cookie, then,” Tessa offers. She’s standing close to him, just happy to listen to him talk about his family and the things he likes. She could almost forget for a moment that they’re on camera. 

“Oh, for sure. I mean, I’m sure yours will be even better, though,” he tells her with a wink, reminding her of their past conversations. “What are you thinking about doing?”

“Well, as much as I hate to say this out loud and maybe jinx it,” she starts, glancing over to the camera, “I think this should be pretty do-able. To me it tastes like a pretty classic butter cookie that’s got some maple flavour infused into it, and then a maple-buttercream filling in the middle. This might even turn out to be pretty home-baker friendly,” she says, thinking out loud.

“Sounds right to me. But, okay, what about the maple leaf shape, though?” Scott asks, picking up another cookie and pointing out the shape itself, and then also the raised lines on top of the cookie that accent the leaf shape and spell out the ‘Dare’ brand name.

“So, that part is going to be harder,” Tessa admits. “I haven’t fully thought that through yet, but generally speaking, there are a few different ways to try to achieve that. There are cookie cutters, of course. And then cookie stamps, although I don’t know if there are any out there that would get the maple shape…”

“Ooh, I might be able to help out with that one,” Scott says, glancing pointedly at the camera. 

“Yeah? You know, your workshop skills might come in handy on this one,” she says, almost egging him on. Well, more than almost. And truth be told she’s been looking forward to inviting him to help out on this one.

“Yeah, Virtch, it’s been a while since I’ve jumped in with some handyman help for you,” he winks, and she just grins back at him, knowing he’s pushing the limits of their screen relationship. 

She shakes her head. “Okay, I’ll make you a deal, I’m going to do some tests for the dough and the filling today, so if you have a stamp or tool for me by tomorrow, we’ll be in business.”

“_Deal_,” he says eagerly. And then they shake on it. 

“Let’s get to work!” She says, smiling at the camera as she says it.

*

True to her word, Tessa starts in on some dough that morning. Her first test turns out well, using cut-out circles for the first test. The flavour is good but not very strong on the maple, so she eventually turns to adding some maple extract to increase the flavour, and by the second batch she has a dough that she’s comfortable with. She doesn’t see much of Scott for the next several hours, leading her to wonder what he’s up to.

She finds out later that afternoon, when he reappears triumphantly, holding a tote bag. He looks like he’s come from outside, and she wonders what kind of errands he’s been on. “Well this looks interesting,” she says as he pulls out a couple of small objects. 

“Okay, T, tell me what you think,” he says, first holding up a box of something that looks like putty. 

“Oh! Yes, I’ve seen this in the hobby stores!” Tessa says, faintly remembering a trip to the craft store over the summer with her little niece. “It’s a kind of home-made mould kit, right?”

“You got it,” he explains. “You mix these two different putties together and it makes a kind of personalized shape-able mould. You form it around the thing that you want to get the shape of and let it set. And then you just use it like a cookie stamp, or whatever, like you said.”

“I love it,” Tessa answers. “Yes, yes, we need to try that. Ooh, so we could just bring one of the original cookies in and use that as the reference form,” she says, reaching over to one of the cookie packages off to the side at her workstation. 

“You totally could do that,” Scott says, a reserved expression on his face. “_But _ …Ta-da!” He reaches into his bag and pulls out a little hand-carved maple-leaf shape, with leaf lines on it and everything. He’s even managed to place the initials _ JF _ in the middle. 

For a moment Tessa just stands there, temporarily speechless. “Oh, wow,” she answers, the understatement of the year. “You made this?” She holds out her hands to take the wooden maple leaf from him, examining it with amazement. 

“Sure did,” he answers. He doesn’t say anything else, yet, as though he’s just waiting for her to react first. 

“This must have taken you forever, when did you…” her voice trails off as she mentally tries to think back in her mind when he must have done this. It’s true that they haven’t spent every waking moment together in the last few months, but there are weeks that have come pretty close. The recent evenings she’s spent solo at her own place must have been when he worked on this. 

“I mean, it’s like you said, T, this recipe has been on your to-do list for a while, no? And besides, you deserve the personal touch, _ JF _ does too. We gotta make this your own personal handmade version.” He shrugs a little, like it was nothing at all. But she can tell this must have taken him a few tries, getting all these fine details just right. This isn’t just a hand-made cutting board with inlaid panels, this is very fine carving work. 

“I’m so excited to use this, Scott, thank you. It’s perfect. Like you said, it’s...it’s our very own cookie stamp! Just right for this.” She keeps her expression and voice light, and professional, but as her eyes meet Scott’s she does as much as she can to convey her thanks. To say she feels touched by it is maybe the understatement of the year. 

“You got this, kiddo,” he says. “You’re going to nail this one.” He smiles, his eyes closing ever so briefly. She knows he’s as invested as she is in getting this right, but he’s also trying to play it cool. She just shakes her head a little. What a team they make. 

He helps her make the mould, and she does a brief test stamping out a couple of cookies with some of her remaining dough. It’s enough to end the day with a high comfort level, knowing the stamp method will work and that they — she — should just be able to go into final dough production on the cookies for the second day.

The next morning she makes up one more batch of dough and puts the new moulds to use — and they work perfectly. It does take a bit of time to press out the cookies one at a time, and since they’re sandwich cookies each cookie needs twice as many, but it’s worth it when she finally puts the first trays in the oven.

Scott’s been floating around the kitchen all morning, buzzing between his own prep station and the rest of the kitchen, keeping a hopeful eye on Tessa’s progress. When she’s getting ready to take the first batch of cookies out of the oven he’s there ready. 

“Let me get the door for you, T,” he says, opening the oven for her with a flourish as she puts on her oven mitts to grab the tray. She winks back at him, confident that it won’t be seen based on the angle she’s turned away from the camera. But his excited smile is definitely there for the whole audience to see. 

The rest of that day becomes mostly about production and assembly, putting out as many cookies as she can, and allowing them to cool. By the time she mixes up the maple buttercream and fills a piping bag with it, she feels the most confident she’s felt on one of these episodes in quite a while. It’s like she’s heading into the home stretch of a game, ready to score the final points for the whole team. 

At the end of the day she’s got nearly three dozen completed cookies, all laid out on a tray. She stands in front of them for the camera, gesturing almost gleefully. “Well, I really couldn’t have asked for a better result,” she says proudly. “I mean, just look at these,” she says, holding up one of her cookies in one hand, and one of the packaged cookies in her other. Her cookie is definitely a little wider and thicker, but overall it looks very close.

“The final test, though, is to confirm how they taste. But I can’t do this one on my own, there’s really one person in this kitchen that needs to give the verdict on this,” she says. She turns and finds Scott waiting close by, and he needs no further encouragement to come over to join her in front of the camera. “Ready for the final taste?” she asks him, handing him a cookie and taking one for herself.”

“So ready,” he says. “I couldn’t be more ready.”

She laughs gently. “Me too.” 

They both take a bite and her first impression is just as she’d expected it to be — a nice crisp butter cookie with a satisfyingly sweet maple filling. But it’s Scott’s reaction she’s most interested in. 

He actually lets out a brief sigh, pleased. “Mm. It’s...It’s so good, T. Really, it’s…” He pauses and takes another bite, letting himself savour it a bit. “It’s like the ones I remember, but even more so. It’s not just good, it’s better.”

“Aw, I’m so glad you like them, Scott.” Tessa can tell from the way he’s looking at her that there’s more he’d like to say just then. But she understands what he’s feeling and thinking almost as clearly as if he’d expressed it in words. And she wants to respond in more than just words, too.

She stands a little closer to him, putting her arm around his waist. “No one in the kitchen loves these more than you, you know,” she tells him. “If you hadn’t liked them I would have gone back for another test just to get it right. And especially with those beautiful cookie moulds you made.”

He puts his arm around her shoulder, half hugging her to him. “You couldn’t possibly let me down, Virtch, not by a long shot.” Then he looks over at the camera, nodding and gesturing with his half-eaten cookie. “And same goes for those guys out there, too, am I right?” he asks directly to the eventual audience. “It’s too bad you guys can’t taste these, too.”

Tessa laughs gently, patting his back where her hand is resting. She lets her other hand rest on her hip, and thinks they must look like quite the accomplished pair like this. “It’s a job well done, all around.”

Maia’s nodding from behind the camera, and Shae-Lynn sends them a satisfied look and a thumbs-up. Alex changes up his grip on the camera, signalling that they’re about ready to call it a cut, and then they do. 

“Good job, guys,” Shae-Lynn affirms. 

Tessa turns towards Scott and puts both arms around him, hugging him tightly. She’s never had a filming session end quite like this one. It’s been a win in several ways — a good tasting result, and a satisfying process. But it means a lot to her knowing that Scott’s been so pleased with both of those things, too, and it makes her regret that she didn’t try this challenge sooner. 

“Thanks, T,” he tells her softly. “We make a good team.”

She kisses him on one cheek, leaning out of the hug but not letting him go completely. “We really do. You should come help me like this for all of these shows from now on.”

He just smiles, oddly bashful just then. After taking a bite he looks over to the side and notices a small cluster has gathered off to the side — Andrew and Kaitlyn, Kaetlyn, and Patrick are all standing by the window benches, looking pleased. Tessa had noticed a few of them in the background earlier, tasting the leftovers from Kaitlyn’s latest pasta recipe. Now she realizes they’ve been lingering to watch her and Scott wrap.

“Hey guys, you should get in on this, too,” she says excitedly. Scott steps to Tessa’s other side, leaving one hand at her back. The others join them at Tessa’s station and each reach for a cookie. Tessa notices Alex start filming again, getting everyone’s reactions.

“Oh my God, you weren’t kidding,” Kaitlyn says first, still chewing her first bite. “The maple is so good, Tess.”

“These are better than anything you’ve done,” Patrick says, an impressed look on his face. 

Andrew’s halfway through his cookie when his expression changes. “Wait, I know what this needs.” He dashes off to one of the fridges, then back to the bench with the glassware, and returns with a few tumblers and a carton of milk.

“Oh man, yes! That’s perfect,” Tessa comments. “I can’t believe we didn’t set that up to begin with.”

Scott grins. “Leave it to the bartender to serve the proper drink.” He steps closer to the group and helps Andrew by distributing the glasses as he pours. Eventually Alex cuts the filming altogether, having gotten enough b-roll, and then he and Maia and Shae-Lyn join in, too.

Before long they’re all gathered up around the bench, their commentary drifting into just friendly chatter. And that’s how the episode wraps — with Tessa enjoying cookies and milk and warm conversation, surrounded by so many of her friends.

*

_ -Thank you, Tessa! Finally a recipe I can stand a chance to try. I’m making these this weekend for sure- _

_ -OK but seriously when do we get the romance reveal? These two are so in love!- _

_ -YES, YES, YES, maple cookies! Best choice ever, and a true Canadian fave. This show was made for these cookies- _

_ -That cookie stamp might as well have been an engagement ring, who’s with me? The look on Tessa’s face when Scott showed it to her! If that’s not true love, I don’t know what is.- _

*

Over the course of the next week, three important things happen. 

The first is that Scott gets a call from home. His grandfather has had a heart attack, and is in the hospital. 

It’s an easy, split-second decision. “Go, you should go,” Tessa nods. “We’ll get you on the first flight tomorrow.”

“Okay. Yes,” he says, still mixed up in his thoughts. “But you...it’s your New York trip, T. Your interview,” he says, his voice thick with worry. “I wanted to be there with you.”

Tessa’s shaking her head already before he gets all the words out. “No, Scott, it’s okay. I’ll go by myself. You should be with your family. See your grandfather.” She means every word. 

The second important thing that happens is that Tessa does make it to New York for her interview trip. 

The next morning they part ways in the airport, each headed for gates at opposite ends of the terminal. Scott’s flight leaves an hour before hers. She hugs him tightly, breathing in the familiar scent of him and soaking up his presence before parting from him for two days. It feels like he’s doing the same thing, from the way he’s holding onto her. And although she knows they’ll see each other again soon it’s not lost on her that they haven’t spent even this much time apart in months — not since they began their relationship.

She waves him off at the gate and blows him a kiss, glad at the gentle smile he gives her in return. 

Once in New York, Tessa checks in to her hotel and does her best to see some sights on her own, still doing many of the things she would have done with Scott. But she also needs time to prepare for her interview, which she does in the quiet of her hotel room. It's hard to focus, at first, but after a little while she starts re-reading her notes and her mind is fully absorbed. She has several points ready about her manuscript outline, her dissertation work in France, and explanations of several of her own top baking tips, honed throughout the years. It's difficult to know how well she'll measure up, but all she can do is her best.

Before she knows it she looks at the time and realizes she’s spent almost two hours lost in her thoughts. It had been so absorbing she hadn’t realized that much time had passed. Once she’d gotten started on her preparations her mind had just gotten lost in all of it and she’d forgotten about everything else. 

Tessa sits up and stretches, then closes her laptop and puts away her notebook. She gets herself ready for bed, waiting for Scott to call her like he'd promised he would, as she goes through the same steps of her nightly routine that have served her so well for so long. As she does so she can’t help thinking more, reflecting on her day and the reason she’s here in the first place. 

If nothing else, the evening has taught her that all her attempts to shrug off the New York fellowship application — _ “Even if I just benefit from the process, it’ll be a good experience,” _she’s reasoned so many times — have ultimately been just her trying to soften the blow if she doesn’t get it. She knows now that, deep down, she applied for it because she truly wants it, for real. 

When she’d started the year at _ J’ai Faim _ she’d had such dreams and ideas of working on her own recipes and her own book, and somehow that had all taken more and more of a backseat. Now that Canada knows her as the _ Gourmet Treats _ chef, she’s started to wonder what her culinary identity is anymore. She’d spent all that time in France learning as much as she could about pastry and come back ready to share it with the world. Instead she’s become the leading Canadian expert in commercial candy and salty treats. 

She understands now that part of the reason she’d applied for the New York fellowship wasn’t just so she’d have dedicated time to write her manuscript — it’s because it feels like it might be her last chance to write it before the opportunity slips away. It’s a harsh truth to realize, in many ways, because it’s an opportunity that would also take her further away from Scott. 

She takes a deep breath and returns to the bedroom area of the room, opening up the curtains and stands by the window, looking at the expansive view from the high floor. She can see the lights of Manhattan spread out below, and a dim expanse farther out that she knows must be Central Park. 

Tessa can’t help wondering, then, how many more evenings like this could lie ahead of her. Of living on her own once again, far from the people she cares about. Getting to stay here, writing and cooking with some of the best people in the industry, would be nothing short of a dream come true. But she doesn't know if she could ask Scott to come with her — not when he's already relocated his whole life once in the last year. Would they stay together, just long distance? They wouldn't be the first to try it. In any event, this particular conversation isn't one they've had yet. She does know for certain that she can't let Scott go. For now, she'll hold on to that.

When Scott calls a moment later it's over video. Seeing him is enough to make her smile, and he has much the same reaction.

"I've missed your face, T. And the rest of you, too."

"Me too, kiddo," she tells him, no less gladly. But there's fatigue in his voice, and she can tell he's starting out with words that are more cheerful than he feels. "How is it going?" When she'd heard from him last they were waiting to hear more from the doctors.

He lets out a sigh, looking down and running one hand through his hair. It looks like he's alone, probably in his old room at his parents' house. "It's not looking great, T." His voice is less steady now. He swallows, gathering himself.

"Oh, Scott," she just reacts, with so much empathy in her voice. "Can you tell me?"

He tells her more, then, about how his grandfather's condition has been steady overall but there's concern about the blockage that caused the attack in the first place. And his blood pressure isn't holding steady as well as they would normally like in order to make the call for surgery.

"So we're just sort of waiting, now," he says finally. "The next few days are important."

“I’m so sorry, Scott. I wish I was with you.” She’s been chewing on her lower lip, her fingers worrying at a thread on one sleeve. She takes a deep breath and straightens a little, flattening her hands against her knees. 

“I know,” he answers, in a tone of voice that sounds a lot like “me, too.” She wonders if he’s holding back saying that so that she doesn’t feel guilty. It only makes her feel more for him.

“I’ll be on the evening flight tomorrow,” she reminds him. “Straight to Toronto and then connection to London. I’ll see you by this time tomorrow.”

He nods, looking right at her through the video. “Good luck, tomorrow morning, T. You’ll do great. No matter what, you’ll do great, okay? And definitely call me when you’re done, I want to hear all about it.”

“Okay,” she smiles gently. “I will.”

They sign off and she’s left again in the silence of her hotel room, wondering how long it will take for sleep to come. It feels awkward, the way she left the call with him, and she’s not sure why.

The third thing that happens, then, is when she realizes that it only felt awkward because instead of ‘goodbye,’ what she’d truly wanted to say was ‘I love you.’ If she’s honest with herself she’s been wanting to say those words to him for a while. The truth of that feeling is what stays with her as she falls asleep.

*

When she gets to her interview the next morning, Tessa feels equal parts exhilarated and intimidated, even just entering the building. It’s an enormous glass tower, and the office directory names publication after publication, all with global stature and popular interest. She squares her shoulders and swallows down her nervousness, reminding herself she has every right to be here, otherwise they wouldn’t have called her in the first place. 

After locating the right floor and the right receptionist, she’s shown through a series of hallways into a brightly lit meeting room. The tall windows extend from floor to ceiling, revealing an expansive view of Midtown. It’s enough to make Tessa feel lighter herself, boosted by the energy and activity of the city below, and so close to the hive of kitchen activity inside. Her fatigue from the previous evening starts to fade. 

The receptionist brings her a cup of coffee and she waits for a few more minutes before she’s joined by the interview panel. It’s a group of three interviewers, two women of different ages and one man. They’re all very professional but also very friendly. The younger woman has a grey streak through her hair and Tessa thinks to herself how stylish she looks. All their names start with ‘C’ and Tessa keeps having to remind herself of them, despite having done her research before getting to this point. But once they start asking questions she feels steady again.

The older woman introduces herself as the magazine’s Food Director and takes the lead on laying out the process for the interview over the next hour and a half, and their candidate selection steps over the next month or so. 

“We loved reading your application,” she tells Tessa, and the other two nod in agreement. “Your manuscript outline reads very promisingly, what more can you tell us about your inspiration for it?”

“Thank you,” Tess responds, equal parts enthusiastic and thoughtful. “It’s been a bit of a labour of love even just getting to the outline stage, there’s just so much to say and do even only focussing on pastry,” she starts, and sees both women nodding again. She remembers reading they both have cookbooks in various stages of production as well, so she’ll have plenty of kindred spirits here if she gets to do her own writing. “But my main goal is to make puff pastry and other classic pastry desserts feel more accessible to everyone, especially home cooks. There are so many possibilities to create really amazing things with such simple ingredients — it can take practice and hard work, sometimes, but neither of those are bad things if it gets you a good result.”

“Oh, I agree,” the younger woman responds. She’s seemed a little more serious than the other two, but perhaps it’s more a reflection of her personality, more introspective. Tessa remembers she’s a Contributing Food Editor and it makes her curious about her position here in the kitchen. “It’s the process that’s really key sometimes.”

“Yes, that’s it exactly!” Tessa answers. “I’ll admit that’s a tough lesson to learn sometimes, even as a professional chef, when you’d really love to be so focussed on getting the result you want as efficiently as possible.” 

She explains a little more about her outline and receives a few follow-up questions from each of the three interviewers. They ask her more about her previous experience, and her dissertation, just as Tessa had expected, and she answers all of them easily, thinking through her prepared responses. 

The time goes by quickly, so much so that Tessa can’t believe it when there’s only ten more minutes left in the interview. She feels as though she’s told them everything she possibly could — but then she realizes how wrong she is when they ask the next question.

“What can you tell us about your video series?” asks the male interviewer — he’s a Deputy Food Editor, Tessa remembers. 

“My video series? Oh, you mean the _ Gourmet Treats_?” Then she almost shakes her head at herself — of course that’s what they mean.

“Yes, those ones!” He nods back. “We’ve only just started to dabble in video production ourselves, so it’s impressive to see the extensive experience on your resume.”

“Oh, well,” she smiles. “They’ve been an adventure, that’s for sure. And they’re not at all the same kinds of recipes I’d be working on for my pastry book,” she reasons, hoping this isn’t a mark against her application.”

“That’s understandable,” the younger woman says, but not at all as though Tessa’s said anything wrong. “You must have learned so much from doing it, though. What would you say have been some of the key lessons?”

“Oh, so many things, really,” Tessa says, as though truly considering it for the first time. “In a lot of ways it’s been the oddest project to work on — there’s a lot of expectations from the audience, and having higher viewership numbers hasn’t diminished that at _ all _,” she starts. And then she lets out a breath, thinking about it. “But I’ve gotten to learn and develop so many more techniques in the process. It’s such a neat combination of skills that go into re-creating a single candy, or snack. So in a way, the result is always worth it because I’ve gotten to go through that process. And I’m very, very fortunate to have had such a supportive set of colleagues to work with while doing it,” she finishes.

The three interviewers exchange a quick, friendly glance, making Tessa wonder if that was the answer they were hoping for. Or perhaps it’s more about confirming fit, and them trying to put her into their own work environment and figure out if she’ll do well. 

There’s a few last perfunctory questions and notes about process and timeline, and before she knows it Tessa’s standing once again and shaking their hands one last time. 

“Thank you so much for having me in,” she tells them. “It’s been a real pleasure to talk to you and I hope the rest of your selection process goes very well.”

“The pleasure is all ours,” the male chef answers. “We look forward to seeing more of your work, whether it’s here or on camera.”

The older woman agrees enthusiastically. “I couldn’t have said that better, myself! Thank you for meeting with us, Tessa, we’ll be sure to let you know as soon as we have a decision.”

And with that, Tessa departs. Her feet carry her to the elevator and out to the expansive lobby, and into the busy streets of Midtown, below. 

She’s feeling a little dazed, maybe even a little surprised — but pleased overall. There’s a few people she wants to tell all about it — her sister and her mother are high up on the list. But she’d promised Scott she’d report back right away. She phones him right away as she walks, not wasting any time. She can hear the same fatigue and worry in his voice as last night, but there’s also so much care and affection — he’s no less keen to hear her tell him everything about how it went. So she does.

*


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tessa figures out some things about her next year, Scott cements his role in the test kitchen, and both of them figure out some feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter is here! I hope you've enjoyed the ride, it's certainly been a longer one than I thought, but a good one.
> 
> I hope this can be a bit of fic comfort food, and also that you've got some good baking and cooking in your own life this week. Thank you everyone for reading! Let me know what you think :)
> 
> Thank you once more to fabulous beta-readers iwantthemtostay, bucketofrice,and D, for reading all these words. Peacefulboo I hope this has been a fun gift fic!

*

Scott’s grandfather passes away the Friday before Thanksgiving, surrounded by his family. It’s an end that comes painlessly, even peacefully — but the loss is felt no less keenly by all of the Moirs. 

Tessa finds Scott at the hospital a short while afterwards, having stayed close but not wanting to step in where she wouldn’t fit. Instead she joins him and his family at his parents’ home, helping where she can. In the day and evening that follows she spends a lot of time with Scott’s mother and brothers talking and preparing food — tasks that feel comforting and reassuring on multiple levels. 

“I’m so sorry for your loss, Alma,” Tessa tells her. It’s a quiet moment while peeling potatoes for dinner. Scott and his brothers have gone out to start a bonfire in the yard, and so for the time being it’s just the two women together in the kitchen. “I only met him briefly but Scott’s told me so much more about him. It sounds like he had a really amazing life.”

“Thank you, my dear. It’s so lovely of you to be here with Scott this weekend, with everything that’s happening,” she says. “And you’re right, his grandfather was the best of us. I think we’d known for a while that his time was coming short but it’s still…” Alma swallows, blinking at tears. “It’s no less hard. We’re all going to miss him dearly.”

“I understand,” Tessa says, her eyes suddenly damp, too. “When I lost my nana it felt like the world wouldn’t ever be the same as it was,” she explains. And then she shrugs. “And of course, it wasn’t,” she thinks out loud. She’d been away at school when it had happened, but they’d been prepared for it. It had been a difficult couple of months afterwards.

“That’s a true story, make no mistake,” Alma agrees, breathing out a sigh. She swallows again and continues with her peeler. It’s quiet again as the two of them work next to each other.

“I feel like I’m getting too good at this,” Tessa says about the potatoes after another moment, searching for something a little lighter to talk about. “I’ve been going through a potato gnocchi phase at home, I think by now I could probably peel, cook, and mash a pound of potatoes in fifteen minutes flat,” she says, laughing gently. She doesn’t mean it like a brag and she hopes it doesn’t come off that way.

To her relief, Alma laughs with her. “I’ve had times like that. There was one summer I made pie every single week for three months, with whatever fruit was available. Poor Joe was either too nice to say anything, or else too happy to just eat the pie in whatever form it came,” she tells her.

Tessa laughs again, more loudly this time. “I think Scott takes after him, then. He’s never said a thing about the gnocchi, either, but he’s eaten it every single time,” she reports. Alma smiles broadly at the story, continuing her work. After a moment she puts down the peeler and dusts her hands, then goes to the sink to start filling a pot of water. She puts it on to boil and then returns to the counter with Tessa, cutting the potatoes into smaller pieces. 

A couple more quiet minutes pass when Alma nudges her. “Scott mentioned you’d come from New York this trip? I’d thought I remembered you saying your people were in Toronto,” she asks.

“Ah, yes,” Tessa blushes. “Yes, my mother and sister are in Toronto. I’ll see them tomorrow on my way back to Montreal. But actually I was in New York for an interview, I might...Well, I’ve applied for a temporary position there,” she tells her. 

Alma’s eyes widen, as though remembering. “Oh! Yes, the...the writing internship? Of course, yes, Scott told me a couple of weeks ago.” She looks back at Tessa again, regret on her face. “Oh, but Scott was supposed to go with you, wasn’t he?” She sighs again. “Yes, yes he was, I remember him telling me a couple of weeks ago. I’m so sorry, my dear, I know he was looking forward to it. And I’m sure you were, too,” she tells her. She puts one hand on Tessa’s arm and squeezes. 

“It’s alright,” Tessa tells her, squeezing her hand back. “It was just an interview, after all, it might not happen in the end. And there will be other chances to visit New York together,” she adds, shrugging a little. She finishes up peeling the last potato and glances up again to find Alma still looking at her, a sort of bittersweet expression on her face. “What is it, did...did I say something wrong?”

Alma immediately shakes her head. “No, honey, not at all,” she reassures her. “You’re right, there will be other chances for you, I’m sure.” She steps closer to Tessa, facing her. “He adores you, you know,” she says, her voice soft. “And he’s so proud of you. I can tell, by the way he talks about you. I know he’s so free with his words when it’s something — or someone — he’s enthusiastic about, maybe on someone else it wouldn’t feel genuine,” Alma reasons. “But with Scott you don’t have to wonder about that. He’s proud of you and he wants good things for you.”

“Well, that’s good, because I’m pretty proud of him, too,” Tessa offers, just as genuine, her voice just as gentle — if a little wobbly, again. She lets Alma squeeze her hand.

“What I mean is...I know that if you get this opportunity it might mean some changes for you, maybe for Scott, too,” Alma continues, her voice just above a whisper. Then she shakes her head. “But if he seems supportive of you taking that chance, it’s because he really _ is _,” she insists. “And I’ve seen the two of you together and I really…” she pauses for a moment, blinking. “He adores you, and maybe he’s a little scared of some things, too, because that’s only reasonable, but if you’re in doubt about anything I hope it’s not in him. I hope you don’t mind me saying that I really do think he’s found the right person in you.” Alma finishes. Then Tessa has to blink again, too, her vision blurring. And then she just puts her arms around her, as Alma does the same. 

“Thank you, that means a lot to me,” Tessa says, feeling a little overwhelmed. “You’re being very generous with me right now. If anything, I should be comforting _ you _, at a time like this.”

“Well that’s the thing about comfort, isn’t it? It can always go both ways,” Alma reasons, smiling when she separates from Tessa. She gives her a wink, too. “And it doesn’t need to run out, either.”

Tessa smiles back at her, squeezing her shoulder. “Well then, I guess all that’s left to do is manage these vegetables and potatoes.”

“Potatoes?” Scott asks, joining them in the kitchen again. He kisses his mom on the cheek and then puts his hand at Tessa’s back. “You’re not doing the gnocchi again, are you?” he asks, momentarily confused.

Tessa and Alma both burst out laughing then, louder than they need to, as though in a much-needed release of nervous energy. 

“What? I’m missing the joke,” he says, looking from one woman to the other in genuine confusion. 

Tessa shakes her head. “It’s fine. And no, we’re just doing regular mash for your mom’s roast. But you can help with the other vegetables, if you like,” she tells him. She puts her hand on his shoulder and brushes it back and forth. 

He kisses Tessa on the cheek then, too, before finding himself a knife and cutting board and getting to work. Alma tells her more about the other family members arriving for dinner that evening, and eventually Scott’s brothers join them inside once more. And they carry on.

*

It’s hard, leaving him on Sunday. He brings her to the airport and when he hugs her she doesn’t let go until he does first. 

“I wish I could stay with you longer,” she tells him, because it’s true. She knows he’s where he belongs right now, with his family who mean the world to him who will know exactly what he needs — and vice versa. And she’s got her own family waiting eagerly for her on the other end of this flight, and the rest of her normal life waiting at the end of one more. But the last week has had so much in it it’s felt like a month, and she doesn’t like leaving him behind. 

“I do too,” he admits wistfully. “But it’s okay, Tess, really. You need to spend time with your family, too. And I’ll see you soon. Life goes on, right?” He shrugs a little, and she’s reminded of Alma’s similar words and gestures the night before. 

“I love you,” she says then. The words just spill out of her then, like she can’t wait any more. Like there’s no reason she wouldn’t say them. 

It’s worth it even just to see the smile that breaks out across his face. “_Tess_,” he just reacts at first. “_I _ love _ you_,” he says, like it’s the most obvious thing. 

“Yeah?” She can’t help the wobble in her voice, nor the mirroring smile. “Well you should know I’m pretty sure I’ve felt like that for a while, but I just didn’t know when to say it.”

He leans in and kisses her then, firmly and adoringly. “I don’t think there’s a wrong time,” he says when they part. It seems like there’s more he wants to say, like he’s thinking. But he just squeezes her hands, the same smile returning to his face. 

“Well I _ do _ love you,” Tessa repeats, just because she can. “And I’ll miss you, and I’ll be thinking of you all week. And so will everyone at work,” she adds gently, in case he needs to hear that, too. If all she can do right now is remind him of all the ways he is cared for and loved, then she’s going to make sure he knows that. 

“Thanks, T. I’ll just get through the next week and then...” he sighs again, like he’s having trouble imagining anything beyond the next few days, which he probably is. 

She squeezes his hands, and then leans in to kiss him this time. “We’ll worry about that then,” she tells him. 

He wraps his arms around her one more time, holding her so tightly. “I love you, kiddo.”

“I love you so much, Scott.” She presses one more kiss to his cheek before letting him go.

And then, too soon, she’s pulling on her suitcase and he’s seeing her off. She steps towards the entrance and then stops to blow him a kiss. He waves back again, waiting and watching until she’s no longer in his sight. 

*

After a brief Thanksgiving celebration in the company of her own family, Tessa returns to Montreal alone. After such an eventful week, she’s glad to be back amongst the familiar comfort and quiet of her own walk-up apartment. She changes her mind from before — the last week has felt more like a year, not a month. It feels like her mind and her heart have both been stretched to their limits and then fallen back into place in a different way than before. Her surroundings are the same but she is not. 

She’s back at work the next day, with all the same work that she’d left behind the week before still waiting for her. A couple of days at her desk and at the kitchen bench leave her feeling mentally refreshed. But she finds herself looking for Scott, a now well-worn reflex in any kitchen but especially this one. Even when they’re not working together on the same project she’s come to rely on his steadying presence, or being able to ask him questions or talk out an idea. The others in the kitchen are as capable and supportive as always, they’re just...not him. 

The tiny handful of colleagues who knew about her New York interview ask about it with interest. Kaitlyn’s expression seems very keen as Tessa reports on everything, even at the reactions of the interviewers. And since she’d spent half a year interning there, Tessa takes her response seriously. 

“It’ll be a few weeks before I hear anything, though,” Tessa says, over afterwork drinks at their habitual cocktail spot a few blocks from the office. “I’ll just have to wait and see.” 

“I’m so proud of you for applying,” Kaitlyn offers. “And honestly if you hadn’t even made it to the interview stage I’d be very disappointed in them. They’d be lucky to have you.”

“And I’d be lucky to get it,” Tessa admits out loud — maybe for the first time. And then she lets herself fully consider it, just like she’d allowed herself to do that night in New York. “Weavs...what if I _ do _ get it?” She lets the question hang there, no other words coming to her yet.

“Then you go have the year of your dreams, and write the cookbook you’ve been talking about ever since you came back from France,” Kaitlyn answers, so matter of fact. 

“Right,” Tessa nods, feeling suddenly giddy. A nervous laugh escapes her. “Is it really that simple? I mean...it could be, couldn’t it?” She sips her drink. 

“It really could be, Tess,” her friend answers. Kaitlyn sips her glass of wine, too. “But then...there’s Scott, right?” 

“There’s Scott,” Tessa answers, so many feelings coming over her then. “I love him, Weavs,” she says, her voice softening — just as Kaitlyn’s expression does, hearing her say it. “What if I leave next year and…” The words trail off, like she can’t bear to finish the sentence.

“What if you leave next year, and your relationship doesn’t last?” Kaitlyn finishes for her, a question not a statement.

Tessa nods quickly, feeling tears prick at her eyes. 

Kaitlyn rests her hand on Tessa’s arm, squeezing. “Okay, but hear me out — what if you leave to go to New York next year, and everything still works out?” She offers an excited, hopeful smile. “What if he visits you every other month and you visit him the other ones, and you’re still together a year later _ and _ you’ve had this awesome career experience?”

She lets herself hold onto the answer in her mind for just a second before replying. “It would be amazing,” she says simply. 

Kaitlyn nods, still smiling. “Yeah, it would,” she agrees.

Tessa laughs, then. “It can’t possibly be that easy,” she says.

“Well, maybe it won’t be,” Kaitlyn allows. “But it _ could_.”

“I’d miss you, too, you know,” Tessa tells her, giving her a fond look. She’d miss everyone here, for that matter. And this is still a conversation she needs to have with Scott, and she’s not sure when that moment will happen. 

“Oh, well that’s why I’m also going to come visit you so much you’ll get sick of me,” Kaitlyn answers easily. “And I still know people there, don’t forget, we’ll make sure you get an awesome apartment, one that’s got room for two,” she winks.

Tessa laughs again. She drains the rest of her drink and waves down the waiter for another round for both of them, and lets her friend help her imagine her future. 

  
  


*

A few days later Tessa picks up Scott from the airport and brings him back to her place for dinner. She listens as he fills her in on the rest of his week — the service, the family gatherings, helping out with the arrangements as much as he could. She can tell he wishes he’d been able to do more — that he would have stayed longer, too, if he could have. 

“I think I was starting to get underfoot,” he tells her. Her heart sinks at the defeat she hears in his voice. “Charlie’s there full time anyway, and Sheri and Cara. Danny’s sticking around until the end of the week, too. Mom and Dad have lots of help already. And I think Mom was worrying about my being away from my job too long,” he adds, his brow furrowing like the very idea was confusing to him. They’re sitting at her kitchen island, plates long pushed aside. He’s got one hand resting under his chin, the other half-clasped around one of hers. 

“They care about you,” she says, in case it bears saying out loud. She knows his mom is just looking out for him. “They probably want you to know it’s okay to go back to your regular life. To still be you,” she offers gently. She rubs her thumb across the back of his fingers. 

“Yeah,” Scott breathes out. “I know they’re right.” He pulls his free hand through his hair, like he’s still lost in thought. 

They talk a little longer, but Tessa can tell he’s tired, and there’s another kind of mental fatigue hanging around him. It’s grief, yes, but there’s also something like he’s not sure he’s done enough, that _ he _ is enough. That’s the part of him she’s not sure how to reach — or whether she’s the person who can. But that doesn’t mean she won’t try.

She leans in and kisses his cheek, then feels her heart lift when he turns towards her and lets her kiss his lips, too. Then she stands and wraps her arms around his shoulders, and they just hold each other. She breathes in the scent of him, lets herself feel the sensation of his arms wrapped tightly around her, the resonance of his heart beating so close to hers. 

“I love you,” he says, and if it’s possible she sinks further into his embrace.

“I love you back,” she tells him, her voice muffled in the collar of his shirt. “And whatever you need, I’m here, okay?”

“I know,” he answers softly. “Thank you.” Another quiet moment passes before he pulls away. She runs her hands through his hair, smoothing the stray strands at his temples. He smiles a little at the soothing gesture, then reaches up and holds her hands in his. “I think I need to just head back to my place for a bit,” he tells her. 

Tessa nods quickly. “Whatever you need,” she repeats. His suitcase is still packed, waiting untouched in her front hallway. Truthfully, she’d wondered if he would want his space for a little while. 

“I’ll be back in the kitchen tomorrow,” he says with a slightly dazed expression. “I can’t even remember what I’m supposed to be working on right now, but it’ll feel good to be back in the kitchen at least.”

She offers what she hopes is a reassuring smile. “I’m sure there will be something for you to do. But I know Marie-France and Shae-Lynn have held your project schedule. You can jump back in slowly if you want to.”

“I know,” he says, that same fatigued smile on his face. “I’ll figure it out.”

“I’ll see you there?” she asks. “You want me to meet you, or...”

“Maybe I could find you for lunch? Or head out at the end of the day? We could ride back together.”

“It’s a deal.”

He kisses her then, long and easily. A few minutes later she waves him off when he calls a cab, and is left once again to the quiet solitude of her kitchen. 

*

As hard as it had been before, watching Scott grieve, at least he had been able to do it while surrounded by the rest of his family. Altogether Tessa’s only spent a handful of days with the other Moirs but it’s been enough to show her where his big heart has come from. He shares it with his brothers, and his parents — and had with his grandparents, too. 

And so it’s that much harder, watching him retreat on his own for a little longer. She strikes a balance of checking in with him and offering specific kinds of help — offering to get coffee, or give tasting feedback on a recipe — and letting him find his own footing. 

Tessa watches as the others in the kitchen spend their efforts similarly, observing as Kurt points out to Scott the new cutting boards and other tools that have arrived in the kitchen in the last week; Or as Kaetlyn invites him to try new additions to the leftovers table when Kaitlyn wraps filming on a new pasta recipe or when Elvis finishes the third and final test of his pulled pork sandwiches. It feels good, watching all of the care happen around her — especially knowing that Scott would be the first one to be doing the same, if any of their roles were reversed. 

She contents herself with catching up with him over lunches and coffees, and at the end of each day she walks hand-in-hand with him as they leave the office and walk to the Metro. He’s still the first person she messages, every day, and the last person she talks to before she goes to sleep. 

It feels like a long week by the time Saturday morning arrives. Tessa lets herself sleep a little bit later, finding she needs the extra time to rest. When she does wake up it’s to the sound of her phone buzzing on her nightstand.

_ ‘Coffee?’ _

She smiles at the message, blinking and sitting up before tapping out a response. ‘_Always. Where should I meet you?’ _

_ ‘I know a really, really close place.’ _

Just then there’s a knock at her front door. ‘_Oh yeah? How close are we talking?’ _ She swings her legs over the side of the bed and pulls on the nearest sweatshirt lying on the armchair. 

_ ‘Pretty close.’ _

Tessa makes it to the door and is already grinning by the time she pulls it open, to find Scott standing there on the stoop, a tray of coffees and a bag of pastries in his hand. But not only that, she can see his suitcase waiting next to him, and his truck parked just in front of her building. She looks back at him, her expression hopeful and searching.

“I thought I could come stay for a little bit. Like before,” he says. But this feels nothing like before, she thinks. It feels like more than that — like he’s coming home. And she’s so, so glad that he is. 

*

“Hi everyone! It’s Tessa again, here in the _ J’ai Faim _ test kitchen, and today we’re making gourmet.... _ Crispy Crunch!” _

Tessa holds her arms out at each side, gesturing to the display of chocolate bars wrapped in orange, purple, and white packaging. Alex pulls the zoom out as Tessa does so, and then she gleefully chooses one of the bars and opens up the wrapping from one end. The test kitchen filming schedules have now long returned to their pre-Thanksgiving pace, and with Halloween approaching, a return to chocolate bars seemed like a good idea.

“Mmm, I like these,” is all she says at first, tasting the first bite and licking her lips on reflex as she tastes the chocolate. She hasn’t had one of these bars in years. “The first bite really is so sweet at the beginning,” she says for the camera’s benefit. “It’s partly because of the milk chocolate but also the toffee filling. But then you get that crunch, and then that nice peanut butter toffee in the middle. It really is sort of crunchy and flaky at the same time,” she explains, gesturing with her other hand as she does so. She takes another bite and just lets herself enjoy it.

Kaitlyn is first up to taste test with her a moment later. “You know, I always loved Butterfingers growing up in the States, it’s a shame we don’t have those up here.” But she takes a Crispy Crunch bite anyway, and seems to like it. 

Tessa smiles and nods, agreeing. She wonders if they’ll have to edit out this part of the conversation later because of the other brand discussion but she’ll let them make that decision in editing. “I know, me too. These are definitely in that same group of candy, they’re both peanut butter toffee covered in milk chocolate.”

Kaitlyn takes another bite, and a little piece crumbles and breaks. She laughs and tries to catch it in her hand, and then eats that too. “I mean, it’s not exactly the same, but it’s pretty delicious in a similar way, I gotta admit.”

Tessa laughs. “You’re not wrong about that. It’s not very flaky, but just flaky enough.” She examines the cross-section of the bar and then holds it up for the camera so that Alex can get a close-up shot of it. The bar is much shallower than it is wide, just tall enough for a few peanut butter toffee layers. Overall the chocolate and toffee have pretty much even flavour profile. 

Scott and Patrick come by together a few minutes later. “Ohh, Crispy Crunch!” Scott exclaims. “Man, I can’t believe I’d forgotten about these.” He leans in with his hands on the counter, examining the display. “Chocolate and toffee, right?” Tessa cuts another bar into pieces and hands one to each of them. 

“Not just toffee, peanut butter toffee,” Patrick corrects.

“Mm, that’s pretty good, Tessa,” Scott says as they each bite into them. Tessa smiles easily at his response, he always gives her these comments as though she’s responsible for the original candy, too, not just her re-creations at the end. 

“You’re not kidding,” Patrick agrees. He finishes his piece and licks his fingers a little, eyeing the rest of the bar Tessa had cut up. She relents and hands him another piece and takes one for herself.

“I know, they’re pretty easy to eat,” she says, enjoying the crunchy toffee texture. She finishes her piece all too quickly, again, and licks her lips. 

“These could get dangerous to have around,” Scott says, looking around at the display of chocolate bars. “You should maybe let us take some away and shield you from the temptation of all of them.” Patrick nods quickly, equally enthusiastic.

“Other people can help you with that too,” Alex pipes up from behind the camera. 

They laugh, but Tessa goes ahead and breaks up another bar, handing Alex a piece of it, then Maia, too. The audience will be treated to the view of them behind the scenes, a rare moment that she knows always adds authenticity for the viewers. Or chaos, she considers. 

For the next few minutes they talk about the texture, and the main requirements for her re-creation. She’s going to need to work with something close to a hard-crack sugar mixture, that much is clear, but will need to experiment with ways to mix in the peanut butter — or layer it, possibly. And then of course, the tempered chocolate to cover everything. 

“Oh, I can see my future,” Tessa says with a knowing sigh as she tastes another piece. “I’m going to be consuming nothing but sugar and tempered chocolate for the next three days.”

Patrick laughs, and from a few feet away at the station behind her, so does Kurt. Tessa shoots Kurt a wry glance and he just smiles and gives a charming wink. She knows he’s just being supportive about the chocolate tempering, so she lets him continue his prep without egging him on. 

When she looks back at the guys she can see Scott nodding along, taking her comment seriously. “Good to know,” he nods. But she can practically see his thoughts moving, as though planning the next few dinners at home this week to make sure he compensates for all of the sugar she’ll be consuming. It’s something he’s come to learn about him as they’ve started sharing their living space more closely. 

While he hasn’t entirely moved into her apartment, he does spend more days and evenings there than at his place. It’s made her evenings feel just as full as her days. She loves waking up next to him in the morning, and sharing dinner with him after work. She even loves their wordless moments — pouring coffee before they’re fully awake in the early hours, or sitting next to each other while looking over recipe notes after dinner. She loves _ him _, plain and simple. 

She blinks, aware that she’s just been staring at Scott for longer than she strictly needs to, and then clears her throat and gets back to talking about the candy. Maia just rolls her eyes and smiles, extremely used to these moments by now, so she just rolls with it. Tessa knows they’ll be kind in the editing room and not try to give away too much, but at this point she’s stopped trying to completely hold herself back from showing her affection. It’s gotten harder and harder to draw that line, lately. 

“So, the chocolate coating, what do we think, milk or dark?” Tessa asks out loud, moving right along. She sees Kaetlyn walk by and waves her over, and she trades places with Scott and Patrick. 

As he walks away just out of frame Scott purses his lips like he’s sending Tessa an air-kiss, and she winks back. And then she and Kaetlyn talk shop about chocolate, and her work continues. 

*

_ \--Wow great job, Tessa! You made this one look so easy, I have such bad luck with any kind of caramel or sugar work, go you!-- _

_ \--Yesss, Patrick and his tight shirts are back <3 When does he get his own show? I want to watch him cook-- _

_ \--Well great, now I want a Crispy Crunch and I live in the UK and can’t get that OR Butterfingers, I am being punished-- _

_ \--Is anybody else watching these videos multiple times now? I think I’ve gone back to watch Aeros and maple cookies like twelve times-- _

_ \--Love seeing Scott every time, they’re so great together on screen-- _

_ \--Tessa when do we get another collab video with you and Scott?-- _

_ \--Butterfingers are way better than Crispy Crunch, but okay, fine, these looked really good-- _

  
  


*

Tessa’s Crispy Crunch escapade goes more smoothly than she’d expected, in the end, the final product coming together in three days flat and tasting as close to the original as she could expect. After that, she’s able to spend a week just working on recipe development again, and it feels like she’s back in the groove. An odd sort of normalcy falls over her routine again, making her feel like she can exhale and relax a little. 

Except, it’s now been a few weeks since her New York interview, and there’s been no word yet. They had, of course, told her it could take up to a month before they made their final selection, and it hasn’t been that long yet, but Tessa can’t help but wonder if this means it’ll be a ‘no’ when she does finally hear back. She discovers she does feel deflated, considering that very entirely likely possibility. Scott, for his part, does his best not to ask too much about it, even though she can tell he wants to be reassuring either way. 

And, either way, it’s hard to form a picture in her mind of anything beyond the next few weeks until she does hear back. It makes it that much more challenging for her during production planning meetings, talking through the upcoming calendar. She meets with Maia and Kaetlyn and Shae-Lynn one morning over coffee in the offices, and finds herself fidgeting a little. 

“So we’re talking about another collaboration video, right?” Kaetlyn asks. She’s got a calendar pulled up on her laptop and a notebook beside her with a full page of scribbled plans. Her recent promotion up to test kitchen manager was the first in a round of contract renewals and renegotiations, and the new job looks good on her, Tessa thinks. 

“Definitely,” Shae-Lynn chimes in. “You guys are down for that, right Tess?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Tessa says. “There’s definitely been a lot of comments asking for that, it would get you some good viewer numbers for sure,” she reasons. 

“Are we doing the cabins again? Oh, if we go in the next month there will probably be snow everywhere, think of how romantic…” Maia’s thoughts travel off as she clasps her hands together. There are practically floating hearts in her eyes.

Tessa clears her throat, side-eyeing all of them. “Okay but this is still a cooking demonstration show, right? There _ are _ limits, you know.”

“Of course, of course,” Shae-Lynn says, waving her hands. “Just be your adorable and wonderful selves, like normal.”

“Did Scott already go over recipe ideas with you? If it’s a winter show we could go so many different directions for baking and roasting,” Tessa points out.

Kaetlyn chimes in, consulting her notes. “He gave us a few ideas. Roast beef, campfire bread — although that one could be yours too, Tess — tourtiere, warm beet salad,” she explains, and rattles off a few more ideas. Tessa’s nodding, feeling good about all of them. The beet salad is a recipe he’s done at home for the two of them and she’d eat it again any time. 

“I like any of those,” Tessa answers. “How about I do bread in the dutch oven — that could be a campfire recipe or indoors one, either way — and then..._ pouding chômeu_r, maybe? It’s so easy, and so good for winter. Not to mention for a backcountry cabin weekend,” she adds.

“Y_es_, let’s do all of that,” Maia agrees. The more they’ve been filming the last year, the more Maia has enjoyed benefitting from the leftovers, which Tessa really enjoys, too.

Shae-Lynn and Kaetlyn are both writing everything down, nodding along. “Okay, so we’ll see if we can get the cabins for early December,” Shae-Lynn says. “I think it’ll work out to get in there well ahead of the holidays, and then we can post the videos before Christmas. Good content alignment there,” she nods. 

“I’m guessing I’m not finishing this year without at least one more _ Gourmet Treats _ shoot, right?”

Shae-Lynn shakes her head in confirmation. “Most certainly not. I’m thinking two more should be do-able, maybe even three, depending on the rest of the work you’ll have to wrap up before…” her voice trails off and all four women still for a moment. “Well, before the end of the year, right?”

Tessa offers them all an understanding smile, feeling that now-familiar uncertainty settle in her again. Although she hasn’t directly told everyone else in the test kitchen about her fellowship application to New York, she can tell that they know about it. And she also knows they’re being kind enough not to mention it directly until there’s a clear answer. “Yeah, let’s get this year wrapped down and...and then we’ll face the new year with whatever we need to,” Tessa says.

Shae-Lynn’s kind expression mirrors Tessa’s. “If we do get in a third _ Gourmet Treats _ episode, we can always hold one of them until the new year,” she offers. “Same with one of the _ Backcountry _ mashup episodes. It’ll buy a bit of time in January to get more filming under our belt, or in case we need to broaden programming out a little if you’re...if you’re not available.”

“Okay,” Tessa nods. “I like that idea. And I know you’re looking at other show ideas, don’t worry, it doesn’t bother me,” she says, holding out both hands and resting them on the table, as though reaching out to all three of them. She knows Kaitlyn still has more plans for her ‘basics’ series, and Andrew’s had good traction on cocktail recipe videos and a now-recurring segment on the best places to dine and drink in Montreal. It’s been enough that they’re now hiring enough staff to round out a third video crew. “I’m glad we have such a great video team now, it’s pretty amazing, right? To think we weren’t doing any of these shows a year ago,” she remembers out loud. For that matter, a year ago she was just packing up her life in France and getting ready to come back home to Canada. 

“You’re right, it _ is _ amazing. And honestly it’s all thanks to you, Tess,” Shae-Lynn adds, patting a hand on Tessa’s arm. “Without you and _ Gourmet Treats _ I don’t think we’d have built all of this, honestly,” she adds. 

It’s a legacy, is what Tessa realizes she’s saying. It means that if Tessa does leave, there’s no mistaking her absence will be felt — but it also means she’ll be leaving behind a very capable group who will do just fine. And that’s in no small part because of the profile she’s brought to their kitchen.

She blushes, then, feeling her cheeks flush pink as she smiles gratefully. “Well, in that case, we’ll make these next few count,” she insists. 

“_Yes_. We’re _ in_,” Katelyn says. 

“Sounds like three more _ Treats _ episodes to me!” Maia exclaims gladly. 

Tessa laughs again. “Right then, let’s do this.”

*

By Friday night of the following week, there’s still been no word yet from New York. Tessa’s just wrapped a week of re-creating Caramilk bars for the latest _ Gourmet Treats _ episode — a task which she will be very pleased never to attempt again as long as she lives — and already has the entire next week’s worth of recipe testing planned out. It’s been a good, productive week, but she’s still never been happier to get to the weekend.

Not only does Tessa have a brief reprieve from _ Treats _ filming, but she and Scott get to spend a little while in the same place at the same time. They’re both on duty in the test kitchen for the next two weeks, and after that they’ll do their early December jaunt to the cabins as planned. Scott won’t be taken away for any other offsite filming until January, and she means to take as much advantage of the time with him as possible. 

And they also now have Scott’s contract renewal to celebrate. Even though he’s still a few months away from finishing his first year, the strength of his _ Backcountry _viewership numbers made it an easy decision for Marie-France and Patrice to bring him on permanently, and with a salary bump along with it. He’s the latest test kitchen staff to get a renegotiated contract and Tessa couldn’t be more thrilled. She also knows that she herself will have a new contract and salary waiting for her if she wants it — Marie-France has already made that clear, and the open offer is now in Tessa’s court.

Today, at least, she’s happy to get to come home to Scott. He’s had the day off and since he’s been spending more evenings at her place than his lately, has already promised to have dinner ready for her tonight. Just the very thought of it is enough to relax her as she steps off the Metro and makes the short walk the rest of the way to her apartment. 

They’ve been more or less co-habiting for a little while now, as Scott spends more weeks at her place than at his own. If she thinks back she knows it started happening more and more in the aftermath of Thanksgiving and his grandfather’s passing. After he came to stay at her place that whole entire week, that was the point when she’d cleared out a couple of drawers and part of her closet, so he had space to keep some of his things for as long as he’s here. 

It’s made her happy in a whole new way, having someone to come home to like this. Having _ him _ to come home to. The idea that that could become something permanent has crossed her mind more than once in the last month, accompanied each time by a thrill of excitement and uncertainty. She hasn’t asked him about it, but now that his contract has been renegotiated and his status in the test kitchen is looking pretty permanent for the foreseeable future, she knows it’s something she needs to talk to him about. He could move in here with her, for good. 

Just now, she steps through her front door to the inviting smell of dinner already on the stove, and the sound of music playing from the speakers in her kitchen. Almost immediately she feels her shoulders relax further, and a smile spreads across her face.

“Well, I could get used to finishing the week like this,” she tells him, stepping into her kitchen and taking off her coat at the same time. She tosses it on a chair along with her bag, enjoying the sight of him working away. 

He’s moving around the kitchen, wearing an apron and a matching smile to hers. “I bet you say that to all your boyfriends,” he answers.

“Oh, _ no_, just to the ones who let themselves in and make dinner whenever they want,” she returns, shaking her head knowingly. He comes closer to her and lets his hands rest at her waist, holding her to him. 

“Well then it’s down to just me and that other guy I had to kick out when I got here,” Scott says. He shakes his head right back. “You should really do something about him, he doesn’t even know how to sear a steak properly.”

Tessa clucks her tongue. “That seals it then, first thing tomorrow, he’s _ out _ of here,” she tells him, tilting her head and waving her hand for emphasis. Then she lets out a sigh, content to just be here with him. “I missed you today,” she says, her voice softer.

Just that is enough to make his smile soften, too. “It’s only been since this morning.” He kisses her gently, and then again a second time. She lets her hands come to rest at his shoulders, fully relaxed now. 

“That was long enough,” she says. “I like days when we get to be in the kitchen together.”

“In that case, have I got some good news for you,” he says, turning and gesturing around the kitchen they’re currently standing in. “Dinner is maybe twenty minutes away from being ready. Oh, and you need a glass of wine,” Scott adds, like he should have offered her that first thing. “Sit, sit.” 

After kissing him quickly once more, she does take a seat at the island, happy to let him take care of her. She takes the glass of wine from him gladly and takes a sip as he returns to his prep. After a few minutes she pours him a glass of wine, too, and they continue catching up about their respective days. There’s a marinara sauce bubbling away on the stove, and while they talk he finishes tenderizing and then breading some pieces of chicken, before setting them to cook in another pan. When it seems like dinner’s getting close to ready he puts some garlic bread in the oven, and Tessa just breathes in for a moment, inhaling all of the wonderful scents.

Tessa pulls out some plates and cutlery for them and sets some places for them at the end of the island where they usually eat, and then absentmindedly starts looking at her phone. 

“Hey, hey, no work over dinner, remember?” he says, spotting her movement. He’s turning off burners and checking the garlic bread, which looks like it’s maybe two more minutes away from being done. 

“I know, I’ll put it away in a minute, I’m just behind on my emails from today and wanted to make sure I hadn’t…” she pauses, seeing an email from the New York magazine office. “Oh, wow,” she says, exhaling. She sits down again, pausing before opening it.

“What is it?” Scott wipes his hands on his apron before pulling it off, and comes to pull up a stool next to her. “Everything okay?”

She looks at him and then her phone, and then back to him. “It’s New York, they’ve got an answer for me,” she tells him. She’s feeling a little nervous but otherwise not sure what to think. It’s now been a full month since her interview and by this point she’d started to prepare herself for a ‘no.’

“Okay,” he answers. He rests one hand on her knee. “What did they say?”

She swallows, and then finally opens the message. It takes her about five seconds to absorb it and then she just brings up one hand on reflex, covering her mouth. Her whole body goes numb.

“Tess?” Scott squeezes the hand at her knee.

“It’s a ‘yes,’” she tells him, her voice wobbling. She looks back at him again. “Oh my God, they’re offering me the fellowship.”

“Oh my God, Tess!” is all he says, and then he’s reaching for her hand. 

“I didn’t...After all these weeks I figured it was going to be a ‘thank you so much for applying,’ by the time I finally heard from them.” She shakes her head. “Oh my God,” she says, echoing him.

“I’m proud of you, kiddo,” he tells her, his tone of voice becoming softer, almost wistful. 

“This means New York for me,” she says, realization coming over her just as she suspects has already dawned on him. Just then the excitement coursing through her shifts to something else — a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, a numbness in her hands. She squeezes his hand again, trying to ground herself. 

“It sure does,” he nods, and then swallows. When she looks over at him again the expression on his face looks a lot like she feels. Underneath his genuine pride is something else like sadness, and worry. 

For a moment they just look at each other, silently. When she’d first applied for this fellowship she’d never in a blue moon thought she’d actually get it. Now that she’s been proven wrong it finally hits her how unprepared she’d been for an actual ‘yes.’ Scott opens his mouth to say something else and then he’s interrupted by the sound of the oven timer going off, signalling that the garlic bread is done. He lingers in his seat, though, as though he can’t get up until this conversation finishes. Finally Tessa gets up and does the job for him, quickly grabbing a potholder and lifting the tray of toasted bread out and onto the waiting cooling rack. 

She turns around again, dusting her hands and hesitating for a split second as she tries to come up with what words she’s supposed to say next. But when she turns Scott’s already there next to her, his hands reaching for her waist. And then she just falls into his arms for the second time that night — though definitely not the last. 

He presses a kiss to her temple, holding her no less lovingly than he had before. “I’m so proud of you, Tess,” he tells her again, half-whispered against her cheek. “You deserve this, there’s no one who deserves it more than you. And I love you, and we’ll make it work, okay?”

“I love you, too,” she’s quick to reply, nodding furiously into his shoulder. Suddenly her face feels hot, tears springing to her eyes as the implications of the news come over her more completely. “That’s not changing, _ ever_.”

“Good,” he answers, his voice sounding a lot like hers now. “Me either, kiddo.” He leans back and cups his face in her cheeks and kisses her again firmly, a long, slow kiss that leaves no room for doubt.

“I want us to figure this out, just like we always said we would,” Tessa says as they part, echoing his words and nodding some more. It’s as much to convince herself as him. She holds him tightly around his waist, her eyes still damp. 

“We _ will _ figure it out,” Scott repeats. “I want that too, Tess, this…if New York is still what you want then you should take it.” 

“But you have your new contract now and they need you so much here, and I had thought I was going to be here with you, too, and…” Her voice breaks and she stops talking, swallowing at the knot in her throat. She knows his happiness and congratulations are completely genuine, and she knows how amazing this opportunity is. And she knows deep down that she’s going to say yes — she’s going to New York. But the implications of moving away and leaving Scott are still a lot to contemplate.

He shakes his head, letting out a breath. “I just know that what I have with you is one of the best things that’s ever happened to me, and it’s going to take a lot more than a little distance for a year, to mess that up.”

She’s nodding in agreement before he even finishes his sentence. “Yes. It will,” she agrees. And then she just blinks, furiously trying to keep her tears at bay and failing. “I don’t want to lose you,” she manages to say.

“Well then it’s a good thing I don’t want to lose you either,” he answers, his voice breaking a little, too. He wraps his arms all the way around her again.

They stand that way for a long moment, just holding each other, loving each other. It’s quiet enough she can just hear his breathing, and the sound of the stove, and the faint hum of traffic outside. She feels his hand stroking her hair and her back, and the familiar warmth of her kitchen all around them. 

Eventually she lifts her head first and Scott follows. He smooths his hands over her cheeks and kisses her once more, gently this time. “We’ll talk, and we’ll figure it out, I promise we will,” he emphasizes again, his voice moderately steady now. “But before we do any of that I think we should eat dinner,” he says, smiling again. 

She laughs. “Yes. Yes, I think we should, too.” She inhales again, reminding herself of all the good things she’d come home to just a few minutes ago — all the wonderful smells and the bright kitchen, and Scott’s warm, loving company. 

So she pours them each another glass of wine, and lets him serve their plates. They sit close next to each other as they eat, and talk, and dream. By the time the meal’s over they don’t have many firmer plans than when it started. But they still have each other, that much is certain. As is how much she loves him, and how very much he loves her back, and the rest of the conversation can wait a little bit longer. 

*

‘A little bit longer’ turns out to be not very much longer at all. After Friday dinner they watch a movie together as the evening winds down. Tessa can feel her mind drifting again and again, thinking about the next year and what it will all mean. It makes her settle closer to Scott, wrapping both arms around him. She’s rewarded with a kiss to the side of her head, and though it relaxes her a little more Tessa still wonders if he’s thinking about the same things, too, as they both gaze ahead at the screen. 

Later, getting ready for bed, she reaches out a hand to him as he gets under the covers next to her and he takes it, squeezing back. She kisses him soundly and tells him she loves him, and he tells her the same words back. But it takes her too long to fall asleep, even next to the reassuring warmth of Scott next to her. 

The next morning she wakes slowly, aware of Scott rising and dressing for a run, kissing her cheek softly as he leaves. She dozes some more before finally rising, feeling groggy and uncertain. As she shuffles into the kitchen to brew the coffee the apartment feels oddly quiet. But when she gets to the kitchen she finds the coffee pot already filling and realizes Scott must have set the timer before leaving for his run, and she smiles to herself, loving him even in his absence — even for something so small.

She pours herself a cup and starts contemplating breakfast options, thinking they deserve something nice for the weekend. There are ingredients for waffles or pancakes, but then she could also do some baked eggs, she thinks. It’s just as she’s finishing rifling through the fridge for ingredients when Scott returns from his run.

He’s sweaty like he’s certainly been exerting himself — he must have been gone for at least an hour, she realizes — but he also seems clear-headed, like he’d been working through his thoughts at the same time. 

“Hey,” she greets him simply. He repeats the same thing, coming to kiss her on the cheek before shedding his technical jacket and toque. She always likes it when he wears that hat, the pom-pom on top is ridiculous and she loves it. He comes back in just his sweats and she hands him a mug of coffee. “Good run?”

“Super good,” he says, taking the mug and downing almost a third of it in one go. He smells like sweat and the cold air from outside. “So, I was thinking. What if…” he starts, then pauses for a moment. She looks at him expectantly and he continues. “What if we played ‘what if’?” There’s a half-smile on his face, like he’s not really asking.

“What do you mean?” Tessa asks. 

“Just that. Let’s play ‘what if.’ You get to say out loud the good things that might happen,” he explains. He sets down his mug on the counter, leaning one hand against it but not sitting down yet. They’re standing together in the middle of the kitchen, next to the island.

A smile starts to play at her lips. “Like, ‘what if I go to New York and everything works out great?’” she asks. It reminds her of Kaitlyn trying to encourage her after she’d come back from her interview.

Scott taps his fist on the counter, grinning. “Exactly. Or, ‘what if you write the best cookbook in the world and come back with a five-figure publication deal?’”

She feels a thrill of excitement run through her at that idea. “What if I learn everything else I don’t know about baking in a whole year?”

“Yes! And what if you end up with a _ second _ cookbook idea by the end of it and you have to write that, too?”

“_Oh_,” she answers, both surprised and delighted. She hadn’t let herself consider that possibility before. “What if I become world famous for my brilliant pastry recipes and not just for making Coffee Crisps?” she smiles widely, almost giggling.

“Well that’s not just a ‘what if,’ that’s a guaranteed fact,” he says. “Ooh, what if I come to New York next and we both take over that town, huh?” His eyes light up at the idea, half-incredulous but half-serious.

“Oh wow,” she says, her eyes going wide. “Okay, well, what if we _ both _ get cookbook deals?” She’s enjoying this game nowgame, now. 

“What if I take over the _ JF _ video empire in your absence and get just as famous?” he adds, his eyebrows lifting.

Tessa laughs out loud this time. “_ Yes _ , you should take over, everybody loves you too you know, you’re so…” she sighs as her words trail off. She gets stalled, just thinking about how wonderful he is in the kitchen and how much the audience hangs off of every one of his videos, and it is very much _ not _ a joke that he’s just as important to the _ J’ai Faim _ crew as she is. There’s so much he can still do there, and she can’t wait to see it happen. 

Except, she won’t be there next to him when it does, she remembers. Her expression falls again, the buoyancy of their game crashing back down to reality. One moment she’d been riding the high of all the wonderful, hopeful ‘what-ifs’, and the next moment she’s suddenly reminded of her worries. Her gaze flickers away from him briefly as she bites her lip.

“What is it?” Scott asks, unhesitating. He reaches back up towards her face and tilts her chin so she’s looking at him again, then rests his hands at her shoulders. “Tell me what it is, Tess, _ please _ .” He squeezes her shoulders, imploring. “I know this has been weighing on you, T. For _ months _ it’s been on your mind, even since before you sent in the application.” He’s talking more resolutely now, like he’s trying to dig further, understand where her worry is coming from. 

“Of course it’s been weighing on me. It’s the biggest thing that’s happened to me since...well, since coming here!” Her voice is getting louder, too, matching his. She’s not sure why they’re fighting about this all of a sudden.

“You want this, don’t you, T?”

“_Yes_, of course I do.” In that moment she can’t bear to be anything but honest. The feelings she’s been holding onto have been just there at the surface, waiting. 

“But...what if we try this, this long distance thing and it’s not the same?” she asks, half-terrified but just needing to put the words out there between them. “When I started here it was just about the work, but now it’s about _ you _, too, and I don’t know if I can separate it anymore.” She swallows hard, feeling the emotion rise in her. “What if it was really about working in that same kitchen together?” 

Her voice catches in her throat. She doesn’t know why she’s talking in the past tense all of a sudden but she immediately wishes she could take it back. She shakes her head. “I’m so scared of doing this without you, without your big heart next to mine all the time.” Tears spill out over her cheeks then and she closes her eyes tightly. It’s taken her far too long to admit all of this out loud. She feels his lips on her forehead, and his hand brushing at her cheeks. He’s being so gentle with her and for some reason it just makes more tears fall. 

“You think if we stop working in that kitchen it’ll stop us, too?” Scott asks, both incredulous and understanding somehow. He shakes his head. “Tess, I’ve been side by side with you in so many kitchens. _ JF _ was the first one, the most important one, but it’s not the last, not by a long shot,” he says. 

Tessa looks back at him, at his warm brown eyes, and knows that he’s right. She thinks about his words and lets more of the good memories flood her mind. “Your kitchen was where you cooked for me the first time. And then that roast up at that ridiculous cabin,” she says, a smile finally toying at her lips again. He grins back at her, too, a reminder that the meal he cooked there was definitely not just for the benefit of the audience. “And back at your parents’ house,” she remembers, too, her voice softening. “And right here.” She looks around her own kitchen, thinking how much bigger it feels now that she’s sharing it with him. 

He’s nodding, smiling at her with such affection. “I would cook next to you anywhere,” he says. “I will love you, _ anywhere _ . I’m in this,” he insists. “I’m in this with _ you _ . For _ good _. If we need to be apart for a year or manage some things long distance for a little bit then...I’ll do it,” he says. He takes both her hands in his. “I’ll do it in a heartbeat if I still get to be with you at the end of it.”

“You would?” Tessa asks, her voice sounding small in her ears. And then she just takes in his expression, the open, caring, hopeful expression on his face and realizes how ridiculous it is to even question him. “You would,” she repeats, this time more confident, as though realizing the truth of those words more fully. “You really, really would.” She reaches one hand towards him, cupping one side of his face and brushing her thumb along the curve of his cheek. 

“Of course I would, Tess,” Scott says. “I _ will_. There’s no one else for me, you have to know that. I think I’ve known that for a while, I just…I don’t know why I haven’t said it yet. I should have said it before.”

She just nods. “I feel the same way,” she tells him, leaning even closer. 

“You do?” He’s smiling this wobbly, hopeful, lopsided smile at her that just makes her want to kiss it right off of his face. “Because the way I feel is I want to be with you forever and get married and have babies with you, is that what you want too?” And then he stops, looking a little surprised at just how much he’d said out loud. 

Tessa laughs again, a sudden, barking laugh that takes her by surprise. She brings her hand to cover her mouth, blushing furiously. It’s so much clearer now, why he’s been so steady and supportive this whole time. No wonder the idea of a year apart hasn’t been fazing him at all — he’s been thinking so much farther ahead than that. 

Scott puts his hands on her waist, looking suddenly apologetic. “That was a lot all at once Tess, I didn’t mean...Well I _ did _ mean it, but I didn’t mean that we had to decide all of that right _ now _, just that someday—”

“I know,” she says, rescuing him. “I know what you meant. And I love that you’re thinking about that, it...I think I’d like that too. Maybe not _ now _,” she repeats. “But maybe that’s something we can talk about more.”

He nods, looking relieved. “Yes. Yes, we’ll do that.”

“I’m going to miss you so much,” she says, feeling her eyes dampen again. “I’m so excited but part of me is still so scared.” 

“Well then we’ll work on that too,” Scott says, confident and matter-of-fact. He kisses her quickly, reassuringly. “You’re not in this alone, Tess. You’ve got me, and that whole damned test kitchen behind you,” he adds, waving his arm as though gesturing to those very people. “And you’re going to come back with so much great work and so many ideas.”

She takes in a big breath and lets it out again. “You’re right. You’re right, and I’m going to remember that.”

“Good.” He kisses her once again. Then he takes in a breath, too. “So, should I go shower first or should we go right to me cooking you some fancy brunch?”

Tessa laughs again, a repeat of the same one from before. “I think…” she says, making it seem like she’s putting a lot of effort into thinking about it. “I think you should take a shower, and I think you should let me do that with you,” she says, sneaking her hands underneath the hem of his sweatshirt. 

He grins, kissing her and then wrapping both arms around her. He picks her up, still laughing, and they do exactly as she says. 

  
  


*

Tessa heads into December feeling so much lighter. She knows now how the rest of the year will go and how she’ll be starting the next one, and Scott continues his unflagging support of her decision. It’s grounding, and humbling, and an amazing reminder of why she loves him so much. They have more good, open conversations. At his suggestion, they agree he’ll take over her lease and give up his, and just like that her apartment officially becomes _ their _ apartment. She knows now she’ll still have a ‘home’ to return to in Montreal, with him at the centre.

She signs her contract for New York, and officially advises Marie-France and Patrice of her departure. 

“You are too brilliant for us to keep you all to ourselves,” Marie says when she tells them. “It wouldn’t be right for us to try to, either.”

Tessa hugs her, and then Patrice, too. “Thank you, that means so much to hear you say that.” They’re still her mentors, and some of the people whose opinions mean the most to her. “And I hope you meant it when you said the door was still open?”

Patrice waves a hand as though she doesn’t even need to ask. “_Bien_, you will tell us when you’re ready to return, and we will work from there,” he says. 

Marie nods. “You only need to say the word. I don’t think it will be easy for us to fill your absence,” she admits, “but just know you have a family here, always.”

Tessa knows she’s right. And true to that sentiment, she receives help from so many corners of the kitchen as she gets ready to depart. Kaitlyn uses her New York connections to help her secure an apartment, as promised - in a corner of Brooklyn she all-but-guarantees to be close to some of the best food in the city. Shae-Lynn arranges the last month of production so that both Tessa and Scott will be able to get away and start their holidays together at the same time, a few days before Christmas. 

And when they head off to film their winter _ Backcountry _ segment, back at the same camp as before, Maia purposefully books the two of them for an extra night. Scott demonstrates his recipes for roast beef with all the trimmings, Tessa makes dutch oven bread and _ pouding chômeur _, and they spend the whole next day on their own, savouring both the leftover food and each other.

*

“Hello everyone, it’s Tessa here in the _ J’ai Faim _ test kitchen, and today we’re here making...Timbits!” She lifts her arms and gestures at the display of doughnuts and doughnut boxes arranged in front of her on the counter, and a brief giggle escapes her as the camera pans out. 

Her wide grin for the camera is both genuine and strategic — she’s strangely thrilled to be doing one more of these episodes before she leaves, and doughnuts weren’t something she’d expected to get the chance to try on camera. But the closer she gets to departing her role, the more emotional she’s started to feel about it. Even just little things have her quickly blinking and clearing her throat, and filming her final video is something that’s far from ‘little.’ 

Tessa uses the moment of surveying the treats in front of her to take in a breath, and keeps going with the same big smile on her face. It’s not a bad thing to be surrounded by what must be several hundred Timbits, and contemplating doughnut flavours. 

“Who doesn’t love Timbits, right?” She shrugs a little and shakes her head at the camera. “Truly one of the most classic Canadian treats.” As the words come out of her mouth she hopes that isn’t the last time she’ll say that — that whatever adventures await her on the other side of the next year, this kitchen will still have a place in her life. She’s going to miss this ridiculous show. 

She bites into the doughnut hole — it’s just a plain sour-cream glazed one, pleasantly sweet. “Mm, good,” she nods. “I mean, it’s Timbits, right? How long do any of us even go without eating any of these.”

Maia chuckles behind the camera. “Not very long,” she says. “I pass a Tim’s every day on the way to my Metro stop,” she admits.

“Oooh, and what’s your pick when you get these?” Tessa asks. She opens up one of the big boxes that has fifty little doughnut holes inside. It’s a plethora of flavours — the production team must have either done a special order or visited several different locations to get this kind of variety. The combination of scents is bizarrely appealing — dough and sugar and chocolate and coconut and all the different flavours. She holds out the box and Maia plucks out a powdered jelly one. 

Maia bites into it gleefully, hunching forward a little so as to avoid getting powdered sugar on her black sweater, and then fails miserably. Tessa laughs in solidarity. 

Patrick and Kaetlyn come over then too, whether drawn by the laughter or the open doughnut box that Tessa is holding is unclear. But they both have big smiles on their faces, and they each pick out a Timbit for themselves.

Kaetlyn gives a thumbs up for her cherry-chip one, chewing happily, and Patrick immediately reaches for a second chocolate glazed. 

“They’re so good,” Kaetlyn says. “How many kinds are you going to make, Tess?”

Patrick looks from Kaetlyn to Tessa and back again, just as curious about her answer. “You’ve got to make more than one flavour, right?” 

Tessa looks at the expectant faces around her and knows they’re right. “Well,” she starts, just thinking out loud. She glances around at the doughnuts in front of her. “There’s a lot to consider because there’s just so many kinds of dough happening here,” she points out. She starts pulling out individual flavours and lining them up on the cutting board. “We’ve got several that are clearly a yeasted dough base, then there’s at least two cake-style doughnuts,” she explains, pointing out the old-fashioned plain and the chocolate-glazed. She keeps digging through the box and eventually has about fifteen different varieties all lines up. It’s quite satisfying to look at. She’s sure this will pop up in a still frame on one of the team’s Instagram feeds later.

They spend a couple of minutes quite fervently debating back and forth about how to proceed, but eventually Tessa decides on the plain cake variety rather than the chocolate one. Patrick pouts theatrically, and Kaetlyn does her best to console him with a smile on her face. 

“Well, I think you guys should take a few Timbits for the road, here,” she says, handing over the open box. They take it happily, and as Tessa starts working the two of them are visible in the background of the camera shot, distributing the doughnuts to the rest of the test kitchen staff.

She gets most of the rest of the boxes cleared aside to the window benches, and then takes a moment to talk out her plan. “So, we can do a bit of research as needed, but actually I feel pretty good about the process here,” she says with genuine confidence. “It’s a standard, fairly sweet, vanilla-flavoured cake doughnut, and we can use that dough to make three varieties — old-fashioned glazed, cherry-chip, and plain toasted coconut.” She places each of the three on the front of the cutting board, as though assembling a little championship lineup. 

“Plus, the advantage with this type of doughnut is that it uses baking soda rather than yeast as a raising agent, so I think that should make the process a little more efficient. Once I get the dough recipe in a good place, then I can re-make it in a larger amount and divide it up for each of the different flavours,” she explains. “So, let’s get to work!”

Tessa spends the rest of the morning working on her first batch of dough and cutting out the little mini doughnuts. Then she’s ready to heat up the big pot of oil to fry them up as a first test. Alex follows her to the stove, hanging on her every move. She double-checks the oil temperature just to make sure, and brings over her little waiting bits of dough on a tray. 

“So, first test?” Tessa looks at the camera and over to Maia and Shae-Lynn, who has also gathered around to watch the progress. They nod enthusiastically. “Okay, no time to waste, then!” She places the first couple of doughnut holes in the oil and watches hopefully. She’s rewarded as they begin to float on the top of the oil, and the colour gradually starts to darken. “It’s working! At least it looks like it’s working!” Her smile is obvious when she glances at the camera, and the other two women let out a little cheer. Tessa gives them a little flip to make sure they’re cooking evenly, and then eventually removes them to cool and drain on the rack. 

Each one only takes a couple of minutes to cook, so before long she’s got an entire tray of old-fashioned plain doughnut holes cooling in front of her. 

“Well, these look wonderful,” she says with obvious pleasure, admiring the tray in front of her. “Let’s have a taste.” She picks up one of the slightly cooler doughnut holes and takes a bite. The flavour is good, definitely not unlike a Timbit. She eats the rest of it all at once, a satisfied expression on her face. “It’s really not bad. Like, I’m actually a little surprised at how close it is,” she admits. She takes a second one and tastes again. “I think I can amp up the vanilla a little bit and it wouldn’t do any harm, and maybe...hmm, I’ll change the flour ratio just slightly so there’s a little more cake flour compared to the all-purpose. But honestly...guys, this is a decent doughnut.”

Kaetlyn and Shae-Lynn come over to taste, and as they eat they both nod in agreement. 

“Once you get a glaze on here?” Shae-Lynn response. “Mm, perfection.”

“Agreed,” Kaetlyn says. “But they’re pretty good plain, though. I’m going for another cup of coffee so I can have it with more of these,” she tells her, and then before Tessa can say anything else Kaetlyn grabs two more of the fresh doughnuts and scurries off with them to the coffee station. 

Tessa just smiles at the camera, gesturing at Kaetlyn’s retreating figure. “I feel like you really can’t go wrong with that kind of critique,” she says, laughing. 

She picks back up after lunchtime, starting to measure out her ingredients for the larger batch of dough just as Scott finally appears with a larger stand mixer in his arms. She knows he’s doing a bit of running back and forth this week between the kitchen and the office, trying to get several recipes prepped and out the door so it will buy him a few extra days on the other side of New Year’s Day — days the two of them will spend together. He smiles at her and sets down the stand mixer he’s carting over, at the cooking end of her bench. 

“I heard you needed the big guy today,” he says, setting the mixer into place. It’s the larger mixer that usually gets held aside unless it’s really needed — most home-cook-oriented recipes don’t need anything that substantial. But for this many doughnuts she’s happy to make use of it. 

Tessa smiles back at him and gives him a quick wink as he finds the outlet and plugs it in. “Yes, and the mixer’s pretty useful too,” she quips, and the crew around her guffaws lightly. 

“_Oh-ho_,” he answers. “Someone brought their A-game today, Virtch.” He squeezes her arm with his hand, a gesture which, as long as they’re in the kitchen, has become a stand-in for him kissing her on the cheek. They learned early on that it was impossible to completely rein-in their physical affection and little touches, and this has become one of Scott’s standbys. “Oh, _ Timbits_,” he says, both distracted and delighted. He paws into the one open box left at her station and pulls out a chocolate one covered in coconut. 

“You bet. What’s your favourite flavour?” she asks. Truthfully she already knows the answer — they’ve spent enough time together to know each other’s favourite _ everything_, by now, including highway-rest-stop snack preferences. But she still loves asking him, every time. She always loves hearing him talk about things he likes.

In answer Scott just holds up the doughnut in his hand and then pops it into his mouth all at once. As he chews he closes his eyes and relaxes his shoulders, just enjoying eating it. “Chocolate coconut,” he mumbles, his mouth still half-full. He swallows the whole thing and gives a thumbs up, then reaches for another one.

Tessa laughs out loud. “They’re pretty great.”

“You guys should get in cahoots with Timmie’s, eh Tessa?” He gestures at her station, and the assembled ingredients. “You could end up with a new flavour or a whole better recipe or something.”

“Oh yeah?” Tessa always loves it when he gets into this stuff with her — the audience viewers aren’t the only ones who enjoy their banter. “What do you think, royalties? A little extra revenue on the side?” She winks again.

“Um, _ definitely_,” Scott agrees. “You guys get on that,” he emphasizes for the camera, looking right at the lens and pointing as he says it, as though speaking directly to Tim Horton’s headquarters in the process.

Tessa just laughs again. “Maybe you should let me get some finished doughnuts first, over here, don’t go making any promises you can’t keep,” she says, flickering her gaze from him to the camera and back to him again. 

“Which kinds are you making, though?” He looks over her ingredients, where there is a conspicuous lack of chocolate or cocoa of any kind. “Just the plain vanilla?”

“Well…yes.” she looks back at her set-up, too. “It’s because we can get a few good classic varieties with the plain cake base. Old-fashioned, cherry chip…” 

“Aw, but T, the chocolate ones too, though. Come on, it’s not Timbits without a mix, right?” He frowns, nearly pushing out his lower lip in an exaggerated pout.

She lets out a sigh of mock exasperation, still smiling, though. “Well, Patrick _ was _ pushing pretty hard for the chocolate glazed,” she allows. On the other side of the camera her colleagues are nodding encouragingly, and Tessa knows for sure that she’ll cave. “And I’m pretty hopeful about the plain cake dough so far, so it might only take me halfway through the second day to get all of these finished…” Eventually she nods. “Okay, okay, we’ll do chocolate,” she says. 

“Yes!” Scott smacks the counter in delight. “That’s the spirit, T.”

“We’ll do the chocolate glaze and the chocolate coconut, though, I draw the line at two more flavours,” she says. She holds up her hand in emphasis and he then turns it into a high-five.

“Sounds good to me,” he agrees. 

“I guess peer pressure works,” she muses to the camera. “Well, that and the power of doughnuts, I suppose.”

“Not just anyone’s doughnuts, T,” Scott adds. “Yours are gonna be the best around, we need to take advantage while we still can.” He’s leaning against the counter, just smiling at her — that same confident, affectionate smile she’s seen from him every time he’s wanted to boost her to keep going. She’s seen it from him an awful lot lately. 

“It’s pretty hard to argue with that, you’re right,” she winks at him, letting him know she’s happy to be on the receiving end of his confidence. “Onwards, then!”

*

The rest of the doughnut escapade wraps up on the third day, as Tessa had expected. Her efforts result in a plethora of Timbits replicas, so much so that she collects several dozen of them inside a baking dish and goes on a tour of the offices. It’s like a walking taste-test station. Alex captures several minutes of footage of everyone choosing their favourite kind and loving how they taste, and Tessa has to admit it was worth it to make a larger variety of flavours. They look good as a final display, and everyone’s happy expressions when they taste them are reward enough on their own. 

After they officially wrap the Timbits episode and Alex has put down the camera, Tessa realizes that everyone in the kitchen has started to gather. A few are clustered just behind Alex and Maia and Shae-Lynn, but still more are hanging out by the benches at the windows, and others farther back near the door and the other cooking stations. Tessa has just a split second to wonder if all of them are going to end up on camera like that, hovering in the background like some kind of silent chorus, accompanying her in her last moments on film. 

But then someone yells out, “yeah, Tessa!” And someone starts clapping, and then it’s not long before everyone in the room is applauding her. It’s a wonderful, wonderful way to end.

She feeling pretty much as satisfied and grateful as she could imagine. It’s bittersweet, knowing she’s finished with this chapter in her life. After all, filming these videos has given her so much more than culinary challenges. They’ve brought her closer to her colleagues, they’ve compelled her to practice so many different techniques than she ever would have on her own — and perhaps most of all they’ve launched a whole new part of her career, giving her a bigger audience for her work than she’d ever expected. So much new possibility awaits. 

*

Maia and Alex get their equipment packed up and head upstairs to the offices to make sure the footage is all intact, as Tessa chats briefly with a few of the other chefs. Shae-Lynn and Kaetlyn insist doesn’t have to worry about cleaning up, but Tessa insists right back that she wants to — she’s always done as much as she can on that part of the job, along with the actual cooking and baking, and she doesn’t want this time to be any different. 

“Okay, but you know there’s a party for you down at the bar tonight, right?” Kaetlyn says in a low voice, grinning eagerly. “In like, twenty minutes?” She glances at the clock and it’s more obvious then how much time they’ve spent already just closing down the filming. They don’t usually finish up this late.

Tessa laughs. No wonder everyone had started to clear out of the kitchen so efficiently. “I did suspect that was happening. Scott was very coy about making any firm plans tonight, so I figured something was going on down here.”

“Well, it’s only fitting,” Shae-Lynn adds. “You want help? Me and Kaet can get this done with you in about three seconds if you want.”

Tessa shakes her head. “It’s okay, you guys need to finish up some things upstairs, probably, don’t think I didn’t see how long your to-do-lists are for the rest of this week,” she says, eyeing each of them one at a time. Kaetlyn’s been scheduling podcast interviews like a madwoman, and Shae-Lynn is trying to lock in the filming roster for the rest of the winter months. 

“It’s fine, I’m good here. I’ll finish up and get changed real quick, I even brought another outfit just in case,” she winks, feeling good about that given the amount of powdered sugar that has been floating around her like a fog for three days. 

Kaetlyn laughs, squeezing her arm. “Okay, fine, we’ll see you down at the bar. Don’t be too long, though, I hear there’s a cake,” she adds conspiratorially. 

By the time she and Shae-Lynn finish collecting their things and leave their work notes in order for the next day, the rest of the crew has cleared out too, and then it’s just Tessa. She finishes up with the larger trays and pans and brings everything else over to the dish pit and loads them into the dishwasher herself. She steps back out again into an empty kitchen.

It’s a very rare moment when she has the entire kitchen all to herself. Even when she has long days and stays late to finish something, there’s usually someone else hanging around doing the same thing. But tonight, for right now at least, it’s just her. 

Tessa walks back into the kitchen, trailing a slow path towards her station to collect her things. But she takes her time, looking over everything. A whole year’s worth of activity and chatter plays out before her as she goes. As she gets to the end and finds her collection of belongings she takes up her phone to message Scott, since he hasn’t returned from his work elsewhere yet. But then there’s a rustle of movement from the main door, and she sees him making his way towards her. 

“Hey,” he says simply, a gentle smile on his face. It’s a good, good look on him. 

She turns towards him, mirroring his expression. “Hey, I was just about to come find you. Everyone’s waiting for us down at the bar, or at least they will be soon.”

“They’re waiting for _ you_,” he corrects. “My face is irrelevant,” he adds as he comes to stand with her, his hands wrapping around her hips. 

“Stop it, they adore you,” she mock-admonishes without missing a beat. But then she leans up on her tiptoes and kisses him quickly. She grabs her purse and tote bag in one hand and wraps her other arm around his waist.

“Still,” he breathes out a moment later. “I’m very much not the guest of honour tonight.” Scott fits himself next to her, pulling her close with one arm around her shoulders. He steers them farther into the kitchen, as though completing her personal memories tour from earlier without needing to be asked. 

“I remember when I got here in January, this kitchen felt so _ big _. So full of people who knew so much,” she thinks back. 

“You’re one of those people too, you know,” he tells her, his voice low.

“I know. And you are too,” she answers, looking back at him. He leans in and kisses her cheek and then she holds him closer as they walk.

They make their way into the more formal cooking studio at the end of the kitchen, brushing aside the thick velvet curtains they use for sound absorption and blocking light. It’s the fanciest part of the kitchen, one that Tessa’s only used a few times when the magazine team wanted to do a round of photo shoots or to get ultra-styled shots of finished recipes. The room is dim, now, just an ambient grey haze of light coming through the windows from outside. 

“And how does it feel a year later?” Scott asks. They’re standing next to the large marble kitchen bench now. Tessa turns so she’s leaning back against it, and drops her belongings on the floor so she can rest her hands on his shoulders. She can make out a curious smile on his face.

“It does feel a little smaller, now. But also _ still _ full of people who know so much,” she adds like it’s obvious. “Even more so, of course, because _ you _ weren’t even here yet at that point.”

He grins a little, now. “Thank goodness I fixed that. Without Patrick telling me to apply I’d probably still be making coffees and sandwiches on Vancouver Island.”

“I should thank him more often for that,” she answers on a sympathetic laugh. 

He kisses her again, gently and slowly. She kisses him back the same way, like she knows he’s trying to draw out their last few moments here like this. There’s a part of her that wants to stay here forever, too, nestled here in this space, no one else to worry about but each other. 

She trails one hand up the side of his neck and threads it through his hair, pulling a little. His hands tighten their grip at her waist in response, as he keeps on kissing her, more insistent now. She’s transported then to seven months ago, to another night not so unlike this when they’d finally kissed for the first time; When she’d ended the day feeling worn and frustrated, and lonely, and he’d stood with her and offered comfort and sympathy — and then offered a lot more than that. 

When she thinks about that night now it hardly feels real how much has happened since then. How much she’s shared with this man, and how much more she wants to. She’s tried so many times to share with him how much the last several months have meant to her, how much her life has changed in so many unfathomable ways. And she’ll keep telling him. 

The memory of that first night only makes her love him more now. A rush of energy moves through her, makes her press her whole body against his — as though words have failed her but like there’s no more time to lose and she’ll tell him with her body instead. He seems to understand somehow, because he breaks their kiss just long enough to change his angle and begin again, answering her searching kisses with more of his own. One of his hands runs along the waistband of her jeans and then slips underneath, quickly enough that, god help her, she almost squeaks in response. But she moves in earnest under his hands.

A soft moan escapes her as Scott reaches to unbutton her jeans. Fleetingly Tessa wonders how much they have time for, how far they can take this. She slips one hand over his and slides it between her legs, releasing her grip once he starts pressing further, first over her underwear and then quickly slipping underneath. She widens her legs a little more, bracing herself against the counter with both hands. If they were over against the wall she might be a little steadier, but there’s no way she wants to move them now. 

His mouth explores the line of her neck, his breath coming in warm waves that are almost synchronous with hers. His fingers are moving insistently, purposefully, finding her slick and ready. She can feel the rough pad of his thumb skirting along the edge of her folds, moving back and forth over and over again. Along with the motion of his fingers it’s enough to make her moan again, her head dropping back as she presses her body closer to his hands. 

She’s not sure how long they keep going like this but eventually she registers him shifting his angle. He leans forward a little more, letting his knees meet the side of the counter just underneath where hers are starting to bend and weaken. She’s grateful for the extra stability, even more so when he flattens his free hand on the cool marble counter next to hers. He’s half-cradling her, even as his body starts to move a little more, too. The way he’s angling himself against her leg, almost like an involuntary reflex, she can tell he’s hard and wonders hazily which one of them will finish first. 

“Scott,” she lets out on another moan, her voice dim. She thrusts harder against his hand, urging him on. 

He mouths at her neck and shoulder, a low growl starting in his throat. She can feel his intake of breath, like he’s about to say something else in answer, but then— 

“Tess? You here?” There’s the distant sound of the main door creaking open from the opposite end of the kitchen, followed by Patrick’s voice. “Everyone else is heading out now!” His words echo a little. 

Tessa stills immediately, and so does Scott. She can feel his heart pounding against hers, and his breath hot on her skin as he tries to keep steady and silent. Neither of them move. 

From her position Tessa can see better than Scott can, and she sends up a silent prayer that they’re tucked away back in the studio kitchen. She can see the light peeking in from the main kitchen and can hear Patrick moving, but thanks to the big velvet curtains still covering the studio entrance she can’t see him, which means — blessedly — he can’t see them either. 

She closes her eyes, ducking her head so her forehead is pressed against Scott’s shoulder. As she listens carefully she can hear Patrick’s faint footsteps as he steps through the kitchen, and then some rustling, she thinks, over by the window benches. Then a pause. She wonders if he’s come back to retrieve something and found it again. Either way, another moment later the footsteps retreat, and then she hears the snap of a few switches being turned, and the lights go out on the entire floor. There’s another creak as the door opens again, and then everything is silent once more. 

Slowly she and Scott each relax again, breathing ragged sighs of relief. Her hand lifts to touch his face, and her thumb drags a slow path across his lower lip as she moves it away. 

“That was close,” he whispers. His face is still so close to hers they’re breathing the same air. His hand is still between her legs, all movement stalled. 

“You’re telling me,” she breathes out, rolling her hips against his hand. Part of her feels like laughing, but it’s quickly overtaken by the better part of her that just wants Scott to finish what he’d started before. 

He responds similarly, then swipes his thumb once more against her centre. She shudders, grasping at his shoulder. What had been more than enough a few moments ago just isn’t anymore, and it feels like he understands that, too. “What do you want, Tess?” His voice is rough in his throat. 

“You,” is her immediate reply. “All of you.” _ Now_, is the unspoken addition as she fumbles at the button on his jeans. 

“I’m right here,” he tells her, letting her hands work even as he covers her mouth with his. 

And then he’s wrapping her in his arms, lifting her up and away from the marble counter and over to the wall. She sighs audibly when she feels her back against the tiles. Scott angles himself beneath her in support and she wraps her legs more firmly around him in answer. And then he’s thrusting into her and she moans in response. She brings both hands to frame his face, kissing him in that moment before he starts moving again.

Then he’s moving and she is too, meeting his thrusts each time. As it is, this isn’t going to take very long for either of them, so at first they go more slowly, like they’re trying to draw it out as long as they can manage. She kisses him again and then just rests her head against his as they move, closing her eyes so that all she feels is him. His breath on her skin, his hand grasping at her hip; she can smell hints of the recipes he must have been working on earlier, a kind of smokiness still lingering around his clothes. 

“Oh, I love you,” she tells him, practically keening as their pace quickens. She can feel herself starting to unravel now, her thighs tightening around him as her orgasm crashes over her. 

“_Tess_,” is all he answers at first, just as she comes apart in his arms. He drives into her a few more times quickly and then he’s following her on a groan. He buries his face in the curve of her shoulder, breathing heavily along with her. 

She cradles his head in her hands as they come down from their peak, feeling her heart rate becoming more level again. She runs her hands down his shoulders, planting a kiss on the side of his head. Eventually she pulls away from him and lets her feet touch the floor, feeling steadiness returning to her legs. 

He lifts his head to kiss her on the lips. Even in this dim light she can see how dark his eyes are, both intense and adoring. “Our kitchen, Tess,” he gets out, half whispered as though they might once again be moments away from being discovered. “This is always going to be ours.”

Her lips curve in a relaxed smile, just radiating love for him. That might be one of the truest things he’s said to her, but also one of the things she’d never needed him to say out loud — it’s true because it just _ is_. For her and for him. It would be true even if they hadn’t done this, even if she weren’t about to leave. 

“Ours,” she repeats. “Always.”

She knows they need to leave, but she’s not ready yet. So just like that first evening together, she kisses him once more, and then again, and again, and again.

*

About half an hour later they finally turn up at the party, after they’ve both tidied themselves and changed. Tessa gave herself a good looking-over in the mirror before they left but still can’t help smoothing a hand over her hair and clothes. And in any case, there’s no stopping the way Scott’s hands still find her, like some kind of subconscious homing signal. He holds one hand around her waist as they walk, shifting it only to clutch his fingers around hers as they enter the bar. 

Kaetlyn is the first one to see them come in and she reacts excitedly along with Maia and Alex, then a cheer goes up around the bar. The entire place is filled with just _ J’ai Faim _ staff, and seeing everyone gathered like this just for her makes her speechless. Tessa gasps, partly laughing but mostly feeling overwhelmed. She smiles so widely, grasping Scott’s hand in hers.

“Oh wow, you _ guys _ ,” is all she can say, looking around at everyone. Her free hand comes up to cover her cheek, where she can feel her face going red. There’s a letter banner across the wall that reads _ ‘Good Luck, Tessa!’ _ , and laid out on the table underneath it is, in fact, a large layer cake with chocolate frosting and some kind of colourful sugary decorations. From this distance she can see something shaped like a maple leaf, and a little cluster of something that’s an orange-yellow Goldfish colour. She’s pretty sure once she gets closer to it she’ll see that the decorations are all replicas of some of her _ Gourmet Treats _ recreations. 

People start coming over to greet Tessa properly, and Scott slips to one side to let her be appropriately adored. Once again, Kaetlyn is the first to come hug Tessa, squealing a little as she does. 

“You finally made it! We were almost going to send out a search party. You look nice, though,” Kaetlyn comments, looking over Tessa’s outfit as she sheds her coat. 

“Thanks,” Tessa laughs. “It seemed appropriate not to show up covered in, uh, flour and donut glaze,” she offers. 

Andrew and Kaitlyn are next to come over, followed by Kurt and then Elvis, and a few others. Marie-France and Patrice are there, too, which Tessa finds more touching than she’d predicted — they’re her friends but also her editors and their support for her moving on next year has been the most generous thing. All in all, the mood is good, and Tessa can feel herself relaxing more with every minute. There’s music playing, and plates of food are everywhere. 

From across the room Shae-Lynn makes her way over to the two of them with glasses of champagne. Tessa takes one happily, but Scott glances over at the bar instead, where Andrew looks to be already in deep consultation with the bartender. 

“I think there’s a way-too-hipstery craft brew over there somewhere with my name on it,” he says, and gives Tessa a quick kiss on the cheek and a squeeze at her hip before heading over there. She watches him greet Patrick and Andrew, who are already ready to recommend some options. 

Tessa leans back in her spot, content to enjoy a quieter moment for now before making some rounds — and she’s betting it will only be another few minutes before she’s invited to say a few words before letting everyone at the cake. She sighs happily and takes a sip of her drink, glancing back at Shae-Lynn only to notice the curious, appraising look on her face.

“What is it?” Tessa asks, suddenly nervous. She smooths her dress and resists the urge to fuss with her hair again. 

“Nothing, nothing,” she answers not entirely believably, taking a sip from her glass. She leans back next to Tessa, shoulders almost nudging up together. Tessa finds her gaze returning once again to Scott across the room and then she blushes, realizing how smitten she truly must look.

Shae-Lynn clears her throat, as she brings her glass halfway back up to her lips, her voice low when she speaks next. “Just promise me you guys at least left the kitchen in a tidy state,” she says, casting Tessa a very knowing sidelong glance.

Tessa half-coughs on her sip of champagne, in spite of herself. “Of course we _ did_,” she answers, making a modest attempt at defending her reputation. A beat passes and then she reconsiders. “Maybe the counters in the studio kitchen could use a once-over,” she murmurs in addition, brushing a strand of hair behind her hair and trying furiously not to blush any more than she already is. 

Shae-Lynn nods briefly. “We can manage that.” Her voice makes her sound so unfazed Tessa’s immediately torn between just letting it go or asking about twelve more follow up questions about what else Shae-Lynn has seen go down in that kitchen. Highly aware of her surroundings just at the moment, she chooses the first option. 

“Oh, okay then,” Tessa answers evenly. She nods and takes another sip and manages to at least swallow it this time before she bursts out laughing at the same time as Shae-Lynn.

“You two, I swear to God,” Shae-Lynn says simply, just shaking her head. “If you’re not back here in a year I promise you he’ll be the next one leaving us for New York,” she adds, an almost wistful expression coming over her.

“You really think so?” Tessa lets her gaze travel back to where Scott stands at the bar, laughing and gesturing mid-conversation with Patrick and Andrew. 

“I know so. I never saw anybody the way you two are together. If you do come back I will still be there to help both of you as much as possible. And if he goes to you we’ll miss him as much as you, I can promise you that much,” she adds, her voice soft. 

Tessa looks back at Shae-Lynn, so grateful. “Thank you, Shae,” she tells her. “That means a lot.” 

There’s nothing more for either of them to say, then so Tessa just puts her arm around her and Shae-Lynn does the same. She feels very, very lucky. 

When they separate Tessa wipes quickly at her eyes and Shae-Lynn does the same. Over the last few sips left in their glasses they start chatting again, this time about the next round of filming that they’ll be starting in the new year, and some of the likely new hires Marie-France and Patrice have been talking about. 

They’re laughing again a few minutes later, when Scott makes his way back over to Tessa, his pint glass in one hand and a brimming champagne flute in the other. Shae-Lynn winks at Tessa and then makes herself scarce, giving Scott a genial squeeze on the arm as she goes. 

Scott looks curiously between them, but then remembers the task that brought him back over to her. “Hey, I brought you a refill, just in case.” 

“Thank you, your timing is perfect,” she says, setting down her empty flute on the nearest surface. He hands her the champagne glass, then kisses her on the cheek and puts one hand at her waist, all the while smiling that boyishly hopeful smile that might be half of what made her fall for him in the first place. 

And then it hits her. _ I really am going to marry him, _ is the sudden thought in her mind, then. She doesn’t know exactly when, or where, but she realizes that really is what awaits her. Although their conversations about marriage haven’t ever landed on anything more than dreaming about it out loud, she knows that he’s the one she’ll be with forever. Suddenly a picture paints itself in her mind, a picture of her and Scott making a home together — a _ life _ together — in all the best possible ways.

They’re going to be okay. They’re going to be _ better _ than okay. Her eyes shimmer a little as she swallows, feeling so much.

“Hey, you okay?” he asks, wondering at her reaction. He rubs his hand at her back. 

She blinks and nods. “I’m perfect,” she answers. Because that’s how this moment feels.

*

_ \--Well, great, now I need Timbits-- _

_ \--A Scott appearance in _ Gourmet Treats _ is always *chef’s kiss* so good, you have to love how they just fit together-- _

_ \--Here to give some love to the old fashioned plain, they are both boring and awesome-- _

_ \--YES Timbits, but come on, no powdered with jelly filling? Truly the only Timbits worthy of consideration-- _

_ \--This one seems like such a different vibe from before, is Tessa saying goodbye?-- _

_ \--Tessa please don’t let this be the last episode I’M NOT READY-- _

*

Compared to the hectic pace of events of the previous two months, the Christmas holidays arrive like a warm blanket. Their work is done for the year, apartment leases have been settled, contracts have been signed, and most of Tessa’s belongings have already been shipped to New York, where she’ll trade her Montreal walk-up for the Brooklyn brownstone one that Kaitlyn had managed to find for her. The next year is waiting for her to simply step into, and now her only job left is to finish this one, surrounded by her family. And Scott — always Scott. 

They travel together back to Ontario, first spending a few days with Scott’s family, then heading to the Virtues to finish Christmas Day and another couple of days with them. It’s a week that’s not without its own kind of frantic pace, but it’s one that Tessa finds strangely comforting this year. The Moirs welcome her back like someone who’s already belonged in their family for years. She spends time in their kitchen again, cooking with Alma and Scott and making cookies with Scott’s brothers and little nieces. More than once she catches Scott looking at her with a kind of pride, like he’s just so pleased his family gets to know her more. 

She thinks she has the same kind of expression on her face when he comes with her to Toronto and they round out the holiday with her family. It’s Jordan and her boyfriend, and her oldest brother and his wife and children, all stuffed into her mother’s big house in the east end. Tessa can’t stay out of the kitchen, for long, especially when there are more desserts to make, and more little ones to share baking with. But Scott takes over a lot of that interaction, too, and by the time Boxing Day concludes she hears little Poppy asking Kate when Scott can come visit them again and cook the good mac and cheese some more. 

They fall into bed together in her mother’s basement guest room, entirely exhausted in the best possible way. It’s another glimpse of her life even farther down the road, seeing Scott in all of these family settings. She falls asleep letting herself imagine what that might look like for them, with no regrets about wondering. 

Tessa and Scott close out the last few days of the year in New York City, busily getting her apartment set up and ready. They cook several meals together, with music blasting and half-argued, half-comical conversations about where the right pot or pan or utensil is and whether Tessa even packed well enough to begin with. The rest of the time is spent exploring her new neighbourhood and mapping out more plans for when Scott visits again the next time. 

“We have to try that Nepalese place, that’s top on the list when I come in February.”

“Yeah? Is that before or after the Malaysian-Indonesian fusion place and the single-origin coffee bar?”

He shrugs, almost scoffing. “Totally different categories. You can _ always _ visit a good coffee bar. And I’ll bet you twenty bucks you’ll be getting takeout from the Malaysian place at least once a week by then,” he says.

She laughs, tucking her arm into the crook of his elbow as they continue through the neighbourhood, taking another full hour to decide where to go for lunch.

They spend New Year’s Eve afternoon walking through Manhattan, exploring and finding new restaurants to add to Tessa’s list. But they also make a special trip to see the building where Tessa will spend the next year, looking up impressed at the glittering glass skyscraper. Scott squeezes her to him, both arms around his shoulders, so tightly that all she can do is laugh. 

“You’re going to do awesome things here, T. Next time I come I’m gonna visit you here and just sit back in awe, just wait.”

“You promise?” she asks, squeezing him back around his middle. “Because I only save the awe for the really really important people.”

“I’ll do my best then,” he answers, his voice soft just before he kisses her. 

They end the year back at her new apartment, in her bed and in each other’s arms. 

When she wakes the next day it’s to the sensation of him holding her, her head resting on his chest just above his heartbeat. It’s the best way she can think of to start off this new, undiscovered year. 

She’s ready to meet it, head held high and as much support as she could ask for.

*

_ \--TESSA COME BACK WE MISS YOU-- _

_ \--I've rewatched Coffee Crisps and maple cookies so many times already, how many hits do we need to bring Tess back to JF-- _

_ \--So many new JF videos and none of them with Tessa in them whyyyy-- _

_ \--Is she still in NYC? I heard they’re trying video down there too, they might try to keep her-- _

_ \--Anybody else catch Tessa’s cameo at the end of the last _ Backcountry _ in the summer _ ? _ She must have been back at JF or was that just a visit-- _

_ \--Her cookbook is listed for online pre-sale now for next year, I can’t wait-- _

_ \--In her last Instagram I swear she was wearing an engagement ring, my heart can’t take it if it’s not Scott-- _

_ \--Tessa please come back, we need your recipes and your smiling face!-- _

*

_ One year later _

_ * _

“Hi everyone, I’m Tessa, and I’m here in the _ J’ai Faim _test kitchen. We had a bit of a break there, but we’re back, and today we’re making gourmet...Mars bars!”

Tessa lifts her arms to the sides as she exhales an excited breath. She gestures to the display of Mars bars arranged in front of her with what is probably a lot more enthusiasm than is needed for a chocolate-flavoured, caramel-covered nougat bar. But it’s her first video since returning to _ JF_, with a title and salary bump to boot, and she’s determined to enjoy all of it - highs and lows and everything in between. 

She rests her hands in front of her and after a moment her fingers are fidgeting with one of the packages in front of her, as she prepares to start in on the familiar routine — she’ll introduce the candy, talk about its flavour and texture and what makes it unique, and then get to work. It’s been a little over a year since she’s been in this spot. Now that she’s back she’s not only enjoying it but savouring it a little. 

There’s a lot she could tell her loyal audience right now, about her absence and now about her return; Tessa could report on the successful completion of her manuscript draft, just under the wire of her one-year fellowship deadline; She could tell them about the recipes she’d developed for the New York company that were possibly some of her best work but didn’t feel as satisfying as some of simplest recipes she’d done for _ J’ai Faim_; Or she could talk about she’d gained an expanded professional network and renewed confidence in her abilities, but still New York would never be able to replicate the sense of home she’s felt here in Montreal. 

If she were really going to bare her soul to the camera she’d give them the full story behind the diamond ring on her left hand - it’s impossible to miss, especially on a sunny winter day like today when the light catches so easily on every shiny and glittery thing.

Then again, these are the things she already knows - and Scott knows them too, he’s known them over and over as he’s supported her over the last year. Her colleagues and friends here in Montreal know them as well, because without all of these things she wouldn’t have returned here. And there are just some things about her life that the camera doesn’t get to know. 

But she can’t help the gleam in her eye when she gets to work here in the morning, or the fresh excitement she feels at diving back into these videos. And she _ definitely _ can’t help the way Scott looks at her when they’re in the kitchen together - even she can see it’s like two missing pieces being fit back together again.

Tessa clears her throat and carries on talking about chocolate. “Now, I know it might seem a little strange that we’re jumping back in with Mars bars because it isn’t just a Canadian treat,” she says, giving the camera a knowing look. She can see Alex and Shae-Lynn grinning from the other side of it, enjoying the whole production. 

“And don’t worry, we’ll be bringing more of your Canadian favourites back in this next round,” she reassures them. She knows there are already chocolate Smarties and Crunchie bars on the list, along with all-dressed potato chips, Flakie pastries, Vegetable Thins crackers, and who knows what else. “But there’s a wide world of treats out there and we’re going to investigate a few of them from time to time, so you’ll have to send us all your ideas for what we should make next.”

Then she lets herself steal a glance to her right, where Scott is standing just off-camera, his chin in one hand and a broad smile on his face like he’s got nothing more important to do right now than watch her work. And she decides she does have one more thing to tell the camera before she starts on the recipe. 

“Besides, that’s the great thing about exploring new things once in a while,” Tessa says. “Sometimes a new and different adventure is all you need, to help you appreciate what you’ve got at home.” She tries a wink at the camera but mostly ends up smiling and, God help her, blushing. 

Tessa takes a deep breath and returns her hands and her attention to the candy in front of her. “Let’s dive in, shall we? We’ve got work to do.”

*

-End-


End file.
